cop
/kɒp/
"cop" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cop” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #3,804) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #3,804
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - to capture or arrest someone
Corpus desk
Index EN-cop · cop · English
cop · rank #3,804 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,804
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH commerce
Nearest frequency peer: commerce (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “cop”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- collect
collect
96,199 corpus weight
- commerce
commerce
96,198 corpus weight
- cop
cop
96,197 corpus weight
- creek
creek
96,196 corpus weight
- currency
currency
96,195 corpus weight
- emotions
emotions
96,194 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “cop” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cop |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kɒp/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #3,804 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cop” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for cop is neighbouring look-alikes ("CT", "CR", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /kɒp/. Frequency #3,804 among 5,599 “C” headwords. 9 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
cop has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CT", "CR", "cs", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English *coppen, *copen, from Old English copian (“to plunder; pillage; steal”); or possibly from Middle French caper (“to capture”), from Latin capiō (“to seize, grasp”); or possibly from Dutch kapen (“to seize, hijack”), fro… The correct English form is cop, spelled C-O-P.
Definition
- 1to capture or arrest someone
- 2To obtain, to purchase (items including but not limited to drugs), to get hold of, to take.
- 3To (be forced to) take; to receive; to shoulder; to bear, especially blame or punishment for a particular instance of wrongdoing.
- 4To see and record a railway locomotive for the first time.
- 5To steal.
- 6To adopt.
- 7To admit, especially to a crime or wrongdoing.
- 8To recruit a prostitute into the stable.
- 9To take (a look, glance, etc.).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cop appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
You see yourself as the kind of guy who wakes up early on Sunday morning and steps out to cop the Times and croissants.
He sold me a bulging paper sack full of Cambodian Red for two dolla' MPC. A strange experience, copping from a kid, but it was righteous weed.
Etymology
Uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English *coppen, *copen, from Old English copian (“to plunder; pillage; steal”); or possibly from Middle French caper (“to capture”), from Latin capiō (“to seize, grasp”); or possibly from Dutch kapen (“to seize, hijack”), from Old Frisian kāpia (“to buy”), whence West Frisian keapje, Saterland Frisian koopje, North Frisian koopi, kuupe. Compare also Middle English copen (“to buy”), from Middle Dutch copen.
This word in other languages
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cop", not the corpus desk frequency band.
What to do next
You've looked up "cop". Here's where to go from here.
- "cop" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "CT". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #3,804 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "C" letter cohort. C–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.