droll

/dɹəʊl/

//dɹəʊl// adj

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

"droll" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“droll” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #48,203 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.

#48,203
frequency rank, English
5
letters
5
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Oddly humorous; whimsical, amusing in a quaint way; waggish.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

droll vs drop
60% similar
droll vs dull
60% similar
droll vs drove
60% similar

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

Key facts for droll
PropertyValue
Headworddroll
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/dɹəʊl/
Letters5
Frequency rank#48,203
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “droll” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). droll lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for droll is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɹəʊl/. Corpus data places it at rank #48,203 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Oddly humorous; whimsical, amusing in a quaint way; waggish.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for droll, with forms such as "ddroll", "dorll", and "drlol". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "drop", "dull", "drove", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French drôle (“comical, odd, funny”), from drôle (“buffoon”) from Middle French drolle (“a merry fellow, pleasant rascal”) from Old French drolle (“one who lives luxuriously”), from Middle Dutch drol (“fat little man, goblin”), itself from Old Norse tr… The correct English form is droll, spelled D-R-O-L-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Oddly humorous; whimsical, amusing in a quaint way; waggish.

Etymology

From French drôle (“comical, odd, funny”), from drôle (“buffoon”) from Middle French drolle (“a merry fellow, pleasant rascal”) from Old French drolle (“one who lives luxuriously”), from Middle Dutch drol (“fat little man, goblin”), itself from Old Norse troll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą. Doublet of drôle and troll.

This word in other languages

fantaisiste(Français)drollig(Deutsch)engraçado(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ddroll,dorll,drlol,drroll,rdoll

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of droll - 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.

ddroll1dorll2drlol2drroll1rdoll2
Edit distance from "droll"

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 "droll"?
"droll" is spelled D-R-O-L-L. The IPA pronunciation is /dɹəʊl/.
What does "droll" mean?
As an adjective, "droll" means: Oddly humorous; whimsical, amusing in a quaint way; waggish.
What words are commonly confused with "droll"?
"droll" is commonly confused with "drop", "dull", "drove". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "droll"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "droll" is /dɹəʊl/. 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 "droll"?
From French drôle (“comical, odd, funny”), from drôle (“buffoon”) from Middle French drolle (“a merry fellow, pleasant rascal”) from Old French drolle (“one who lives luxuriously”), from Middle Dutch drol (“fat little man, goblin”), itself from Ol... 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.

Using “droll”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is D-R-O-L-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /dɹəʊl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “drop” - see the side-by-side comparison. droll vs drop
  • 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list