# tower

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈtaʊ.ə(ɹ)/ · frequency rank #3,031

## Definitions
1. A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
2. A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
3. A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
4. A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
5. A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
6. An item of various kinds, such as a computer case, that is higher than it is wide.
7. A strong refuge; a defence.
8. Each of a set of information technology concerns within a business, which are treated separately so that they can be handled by different providers.
9. The sixteenth named (trump or Major Arcana) card in many Tarot decks, usually deemed an ill omen.
10. The nineteenth Lenormand card, representing structure, bureaucracy, stability and loneliness.
11. A group of giraffes.
12. A metal stand used as a pivot to support a punty at a furnace.
13. A tall fashionable headdress worn in the time of King William III and Queen Anne.
14. High flight; elevation.

## Etymology
From Middle English tour, tur, tor, from Old English tūr, tor, torr ("tower; rock"; > English tor) and Old French tour, toer, tor; both from Latin turris (“a tower”), Ancient Greek τύρρις (túrrhis) (Hesychius), τύρσις (túrsis).
Compare Scots tour, towr, towre (“tower”), West Frisian toer (“tower”), Dutch toren (“tower”), German Turm (“tower”), Danish tårn (“tower”), Swedish torn (“tower”), Icelandic turn (“tower”), Welsh tŵr.
Doublet of tor, tourelle, and turret.

## Easily confused with
- **town** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tower-vs-town)
- **towns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tower-vs-towns)
- **Tyler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tower-vs-tyler)
- **tuner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tower-vs-tuner)
- **trier** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tower-vs-trier)
- **towne** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tower-vs-towne)
- **tuber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tower-vs-tuber)
- **towers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tower-vs-towers)
- **toe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toe-vs-tower)
- **tow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tow-vs-tower)
- **tor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tor-vs-tower)
- **ter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ter-vs-tower)
- **tour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tour-vs-tower)
- **tone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tone-vs-tower)
- **tier** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tier-vs-tower)
- **toes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toes-vs-tower)
- **tore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tore-vs-tower)
- **tote** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tote-vs-tower)
- **tome** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tome-vs-tower)
- **toed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toed-vs-tower)

## Common misspellings (7)
`otwer`, `toewr`, `towerr`, `towre`, `towwer`, `ttower`, `twoer`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tower