Dave
/deɪv/
"dave" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Dave” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,357. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #3,357
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - A diminutive of the male given name David, also used as a formal given name.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dave · Dave · English
Dave · rank #3,357 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,357
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH concrete
Nearest frequency peer: concrete (-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 “Dave”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- chase
chase
96,647 corpus weight
- components
components
96,646 corpus weight
- concrete
concrete
96,645 corpus weight
- Dave
Dave
96,644 corpus weight
- deeply
deeply
96,643 corpus weight
- expectations
expectations
96,642 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Dave” 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 | Dave |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /deɪv/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #3,357 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Dave” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around Dave (IPA /deɪv/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #3,357 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for Dave, with forms such as "adve", "daev", and "davve". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "de", "DV", "day", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is Dave, spelled D-A-V-E.
Definition
- 1A diminutive of the male given name David, also used as a formal given name.
- 2A surname from Gujarati from Gujarati દવે (dave, “(one who has studied) two Vedas”).
- 3A female given name.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Dave appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
David, with its final "d", sounds finished and complete, whereas Dave just kind of hangs there in the air, indefinitely. - - - Worse, if your name is Dave, the only possible nickname is "Davey", which makes you sound like you should be wearing a coonskin cap.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy said he would send two customers to tour a former Nazi concentration camp after they allegedly engaged in antisemitic behavior at a Barstool pub in Philadelphia, then later retracted that offer for at least one of them because he said the person was denying responsibility for what happened.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- adve
- daev
- davve
- ddave
- dvae
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Dave - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Dave"?
What does "Dave" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Dave", 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).
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.