develop
/dɪˈvɛl.əp/
"develop" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“develop” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,820 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #1,820
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To discover, find out; to uncover.
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) |
Where “develop” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for develop is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪˈvɛl.əp/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,820 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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.
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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Using “develop”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-V-E-L-O-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɪˈvɛl.əp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “developed” - see the side-by-side comparison. develop vs developed
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.