cove
/koʊv/
"cove" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cove” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #12,216. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #12,216
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cove · cove · English
cove · rank #12,216 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #12,216
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH cozy
Nearest frequency peer: cozy (+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 “cove”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- cooled
cooled
87,788 corpus weight
- corpus
corpus
87,787 corpus weight
- cove
cove
87,785 corpus weight
- cozy
cozy
87,784 corpus weight
- culturally
culturally
87,783 corpus weight
- deficiency
deficiency
87,781 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “cove” 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 | cove |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /koʊv/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #12,216 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cove” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around cove (IPA /koʊv/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,216 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for cove, with forms such as "ccove", "coev", and "covve". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CV", "cow", "cox", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English cove, from Old English cofa (“chamber; den”), from Proto-West Germanic *kobō, from Proto-Germanic *kubô. Cognate with Dutch koof (“cove”), German Low German Koov (“small room”), German Koben (“nook, shed”), Icelandic kofi (“hut, shack”).… The correct English form is cove, spelled C-O-V-E.
Definition
- 1A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.
- 2A concave vault or archway, especially the arch of a ceiling.
- 3A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds; bight.
- 4A strip of prairie extending into woodland.
- 5A recess or sheltered area on the slopes of a mountain.
- 6The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship.
- 7A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level.
- 8A valley between two ridges, especially one that, opening to the south and east, is protected by ridges on the north and west from common winter storm tracks.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cove appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
secret coves and noukes
There are several excellent snorkelling spots in the shallow coves around Chimei, and one-day tours (NT$1100 to NT$1300, including transport and food) can be arranged beforehand by your hotel or home-stay.
Etymology
From Middle English cove, from Old English cofa (“chamber; den”), from Proto-West Germanic *kobō, from Proto-Germanic *kubô. Cognate with Dutch koof (“cove”), German Low German Koov (“small room”), German Koben (“nook, shed”), Icelandic kofi (“hut, shack”). This word has probably survived as long as it has due to its coincidental phonetic resemblance to the unrelated word English cave. Also unrelated to Spanish cueva, which itself is a cognate of cave.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccove
- coev
- covve
- cvoe
- ocve
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cove - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "cove", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "cove". Here's where to go from here.
- "cove" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "CV". View pair
- 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #12,216 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.