develop
/dɪˈvɛl.əp/
"develop" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“develop” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,820. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,820
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To discover, find out; to uncover.
Corpus desk
Index EN-develop · develop · English
develop · rank #1,820 · 10 variants · 2 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,820
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH cultural
Nearest frequency peer: cultural (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “develop”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- corner
corner
98,184 corpus weight
- criminal
criminal
98,183 corpus weight
- cultural
cultural
98,182 corpus weight
- develop
develop
98,181 corpus weight
- driver
driver
98,180 corpus weight
- ends
ends
98,179 corpus weight
What this shows “develop” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | develop |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /dɪˈvɛl.əp/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #1,820 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “develop”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around develop (IPA /dɪˈvɛl.əp/), averb. Corpus frequency is #1,820 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for develop, with forms such as "ddevelop", "deevlop", and "devellop". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "developed", "developer", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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,… The correct English form is develop, spelled D-E-V-E-L-O-P.
Definition
- 1To discover, find out; to uncover.
- 2To change with a specific direction, progress.
- 3To progress through a sequence of stages.
- 4To advance; to further; to promote the growth of.
- 5To create.
- 6To bring out images latent in photographic film.
- 7To acquire something usually over a period of time.
- 8To place one's pieces actively.
- 9To cause a ball to become more open and available to be played on later. Usually by moving it away from the cushion, or by opening a pack.
- 10To change the form of (an algebraic expression, etc.) by executing certain indicated operations without changing the value.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how develop appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
‘The mystery which I cannot develop, may by that time be removed […].’
The plaintiff's case on liability was pretty solid. One of the herbal ingredients in Vita-Pote turned out to have a well-recognized association with temporary impotence. When it developed that the defendant had never really investigated what the ingredients in Vita-Pote could do to men, the local legal pundits started saying there was no way the plaintiff…
Etymology
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. Akin to Middle English wlappen (“to wrap, fold”) (Modern English lap (“to wrap, involve, fold”)), Middle English wrappen (“to wrap”), Middle Dutch lappen (“to wrap up, embrace”), dialectal Danish vravle (“to wind, twist”), Middle Low German wrempen (“to wrinkle, scrunch, distort”), Old English wearp (“warp”). The word acquired its modern meaning from the 17th-century belief that an egg contains the animal in miniature and matures by growing larger and shedding its envelopes.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddevelop
- deevlop
- devellop
- developp
- develpo
- deveolp
- devleop
- devvelop
- dveelop
- edvelop
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of develop - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "develop", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).