undertow
"undertow" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“undertow” is uncommon English (frequency #57,799 among 1,433 “U” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #57,799
- frequency rank, English
- 1,433
- “U” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To pull or tow under; drag beneath; pull down.
Corpus desk
Index EN-undertow · undertow · English
undertow · rank #57,799 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #57,799
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,433
- PHOTO-FINISH underemployed
Nearest frequency peer: underemployed (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “undertow”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- unblemished
unblemished
42,205 corpus weight
- uncircumcis…
uncircumcised
42,204 corpus weight
- underemploy…
underemployed
42,203 corpus weight
- undertow
undertow
42,202 corpus weight
- unmasking
unmasking
42,201 corpus weight
- unravelling
unravelling
42,200 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “undertow” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | undertow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #57,799 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “undertow” in English
Rare enough to double-check
undertow is uncommon English at frequency #57,799 among 1,433 “U” headwords, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for undertow, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From under- + tow. The correct English form is undertow, spelled U-N-D-E-R-T-O-W.
Definition
- 1To pull or tow under; drag beneath; pull down.
- 2To pull down by, or as by, an undertow.
- 3To flow or behave as an undertow.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how undertow appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Off in a gallop the General wheeled vanishing, And sped his steed away into the blue, When Lineoln now alone let go his speech Which had before been undertowed by force, [...]
A sense that the air, a sighting of muddy river, or that outcrop of rock so implacably bland in the light of midday, is undertowed by memory.
Etymology
From under- + tow.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "undertow", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).