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PlainSpell

develop

de·ve·lop/dɪˈvɛl.əp/verb

develop is spelled D-E-V-E-L-O-P, 3 syllables: de·ve·lop. The wrong spelling people search most is develope: about 850 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 2 in 10 of all searches for the word. Develop is a verb meaning “To change with a specific direction, progress”.

How many letters and syllables are in develop?

Letters7: D-E-V-E-L-O-P
Syllables3: de·ve·lop
In writing56 times per million words; the 1,822nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched1; the most searched, develope, about 850 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell develop?

Develop is spelled D-E-V-E-L-O-P. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 2 in 10 of the searches for develop in either form.

developthe right spelling2,720 searches a month
developean extra e850 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is develop?

Develop appears 56 times per million words in written English, the 1,822nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce develop?

  • US /dɪˈvɛl.əp/
  • /ˈɖeʋᵊ.ləp/
  • /ɖɪˈʋɛː.ləp/

Develop has 3 syllables, split de·ve·lop in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-develop.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of develop

  • develops present, singular, he/she/it
  • developing participle, present
  • developed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does develop mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    archaicTo discover, find out; to uncover.

  2. 2

    To change with a specific direction, progress.

    Let's see how things develop and then make our decision.

  3. 3

    To progress through a sequence of stages.

    Isabel developed from a tropical depression to a tropical storm to a hurricane. An embryo develops into a fetus and then into an infant.

  4. 4

    To advance; to further; to promote the growth of.

  5. 5

    To create.

    I need to develop a plan for the next three weeks.

  6. 6

    To bring out images latent in photographic film.

    Please develop this roll of film.

  7. 7

    To acquire something usually over a period of time.

    I have been in England enough to develop a British accent.

  8. 8

    To place one's pieces actively.

    I need to develop my white-square bishop.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Develop in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchse développer (to progress), développer (to progress through stages), créer (to create)
Germanentwickeln (to progress), sich entwickeln (to progress through stages)
Portuguesedesenvolver (to progress), fazer, criar (to create), revelar (to bring out photographic images)
Spanishdesarrollarse (to progress), revelar (to bring out photographic images), desarrollar (to advance)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does develop come from?

Borrowed from French développer, from Middle French desveloper, from Old French desveloper, from des- + voloper, veloper, vloper (“to wrap, wrap up”) (compare Italian sviluppare, Old Italian alternative form goluppare (“to wrap”)) from Vulgar Latin *vloppō, *wloppō (“to wrap”) ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrappaną, *wlappaną (“to wrap, roll up, turn, wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *werb- (“to turn, bend”) http://www.wordnik.com/words/envelop.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after develop