dove

/dʌv/

//dʌv// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"dove" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“dove” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #11,687. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,687
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than 300 species of the family Columbidae.

Corpus desk

Index EN-dove · dove · English

dove · rank #11,687 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,687
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH dolphin

Nearest frequency peer: dolphin (-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 “dove”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “dove” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

dove vs DV
0% similar
dove vs due
50% similar
dove vs DVD
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for dove
PropertyValue
Headworddove
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/dʌv/
Letters4
Frequency rank#11,687
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “dove”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).dovelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “dolphin” (#11,686), “dumping” (#11,688), “DL” (#11,685). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “dove” is #11,687. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around dove (IPA /dʌv/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #11,687 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for dove, with forms such as "ddove", "doev", and "dovve". 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, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-der.? Proto-Germanic *dūbaną? Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ Proto-West Germanic *dūbā Old English *dūfe Middle English douve English dove Inherited from Middle English douve, dove, duve, from Old English *dūfe (“dove, pigeo… The correct English form is dove, spelled D-O-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than 300 species of the family Columbidae.
  2. 2
    A person favouring conciliation and negotiation rather than conflict.
  3. 3
    Term of endearment for one regarded as pure and gentle.
  4. 4
    A greyish, bluish, pinkish colour like that of the bird.
  5. 5
    Ellipsis of love dove (“tablet of the drug ecstasy”).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dove appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Dove's brains have been prepared by chefs for amorous expectations.
  2. O my dove, […] let me hear thy voice.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-der.? Proto-Germanic *dūbaną? Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ Proto-West Germanic *dūbā Old English *dūfe Middle English douve English dove Inherited from Middle English douve, dove, duve, from Old English *dūfe (“dove, pigeon”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūbā, from Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ (“dove, pigeon”). Cognate with Scots doo, dow, Saterland Frisian Duuwe, West Frisian do, Dutch duif, Afrikaans duif, Sranan Tongo doifi, German Taube, German Low German Duuv, Dutch Low Saxon duve, doeve, Danish due, Faroese dúgva, Icelandic dúfa, Norwegian Bokmål due, Norwegian Nynorsk due, Swedish duva, Yiddish טויב (toyb), Gothic *𐌳𐌿𐌱𐍉 (*dubō).

This word in other languages

pichón(Español)colombe(Français)Taube(Deutsch)pombo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddove
  • doev
  • dovve
  • dvoe
  • odve

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dove - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ddove1doev2dovve1dvoe2odve2
Edit distance from "dove"

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

How do you spell "dove"?
"dove" is spelled D-O-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is /dʌv/.
What does "dove" mean?
As a noun, "dove" means: A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than 300 species of the family Columbidae.
What words are commonly confused with "dove"?
"dove" is commonly confused with "DV", "due", "DVD". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dove"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dove" is /dʌv/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "dove"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-der.? Proto-Germanic *dūbaną? Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ Proto-West Germanic *dūbā Old English *dūfe Middle English douve English dove Inherited from Middle English douve, dove, duve, from Old English *dūfe (“d... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dove", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Dunn#11,689dent#11,678dell#11,677gala#11,701

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

dammit5 variantscite5 variantsBart5 variantsalas5 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list