# cove

> English word · Noun · IPA /koʊv/ · frequency rank #12,216

## Definitions
1. A hollow in a rock; a cave or cavern.
2. A concave vault or archway, especially the arch of a ceiling.
3. A small coastal inlet, especially one having high cliffs protecting vessels from prevailing winds; bight.
4. A strip of prairie extending into woodland.
5. A recess or sheltered area on the slopes of a mountain.
6. The wooden roof of the stern gallery of an old sailing warship.
7. A thin line, sometimes gilded, along a yacht's strake below deck level.
8. A 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.

## 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.

## Easily confused with
- **CV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cv)
- **cow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cow)
- **cox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cox)
- **cue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cue)
- **CVS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cvs)
- **coz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-coz)
- **coy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-coy)
- **CTE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cte)
- **CSE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cse)
- **CVD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cvd)
- **cute** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cute)
- **cure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cure)
- **cows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cows)
- **cube** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cube)
- **cozy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cozy)
- **Cree** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cree)
- **cowl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cowl)
- **cover** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-cover)
- **curve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-curve)
- **COVID** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cove-vs-covid)

## Common misspellings (5)
`ccove`, `coev`, `covve`, `cvoe`, `ocve`

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