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” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #48,203. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#48,203
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Oddly humorous; whimsical, amusing in a quaint way; waggish.

Corpus desk

Index EN-droll · droll · English

droll · rank #48,203 · 5 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #48,203
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH drudgery

Nearest frequency peer: drudgery (+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 “droll”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “droll” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

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.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around droll (IPA /dɹəʊl/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #48,203 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Dominant gloss: "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.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Very droll, minister.
  2. The Theatre of Puppets, or Marionetti—a famous company from Milan—is, without any exception, the drollest exhibition I ever beheld in my life. I never saw anything so exquisitely ridiculous.

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.

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 September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ditty#48,195dinar#48,187fader#48,231Darla#48,173

Similar misspelling depth

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

Jura5 variantsBuell5 variantsbrut5 variantsLora5 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "droll". Here's where to go from here.

  • "droll" maps to 17 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "drop". View pair
  • 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #48,203 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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