dive
/daɪv/
"dive" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dive” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,875. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,875
- frequency rank, English
- 26,416
- “D” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To swim under water.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dive · dive · English
dive · rank #5,875 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #5,875
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 26,416
- PHOTO-FINISH demanded
Nearest frequency peer: demanded (-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 “dive”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- deer
deer
94,129 corpus weight
- delta
delta
94,128 corpus weight
- demanded
demanded
94,127 corpus weight
- dive
dive
94,126 corpus weight
- divide
divide
94,125 corpus weight
- Easter
Easter
94,124 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “dive” 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 | dive |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /daɪv/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #5,875 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dive” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around dive (IPA /daɪv/), averb. Corpus frequency is #5,875 among 26,416 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for dive, with forms such as "ddive", "diev", and "divve". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "DV", "due", "DVD", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English diven, duven, from the merger of Old English dȳfan (“to dip, immerse”, transitive weak verb) (from Proto-Germanic *dūbijaną) and dūfan (“to duck, dive, sink, penetrate”, intransitive strong verb) (past participle ġedofen). Cognate with I… The correct English form is dive, spelled D-I-V-E.
Definition
- 1To swim under water.
- 2To jump into water head-first.
- 3To jump headfirst toward the ground or into another substance.
- 4To descend sharply or steeply.
- 5To lose altitude quickly by pointing downwards, as with a bird or aircraft.
- 6To undertake with enthusiasm.
- 7To deliberately fall down after a challenge, imitating being fouled, in the hope of getting one's opponent penalised.
- 8To leap while fielding to take a brilliant catch which usually results in a wicket and appreciation.
- 9To cause to descend, dunk; to plunge something into water.
- 10To explore by diving; to plunge into.
- 11To plunge or to go deeply into any subject, question, business, etc.; to penetrate; to explore.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how dive appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He dove in the water to save her.
It is not that pearls fetch a high price because men have dived for them.
Etymology
From Middle English diven, duven, from the merger of Old English dȳfan (“to dip, immerse”, transitive weak verb) (from Proto-Germanic *dūbijaną) and dūfan (“to duck, dive, sink, penetrate”, intransitive strong verb) (past participle ġedofen). Cognate with Icelandic dýfa (“to dip, dive”), Low German bedaven (“covered, covered with water”). See also deep, dip.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ddive
- diev
- divve
- dvie
- idve
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dive - 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 May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dive", 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.