drove

/dɹəʊv/

//dɹəʊv// noun

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

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

The verdict

“drove” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,876. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,876
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A cattle drive or the herd being driven by it; thus, a number of cattle driven to market or new pastures.

Corpus desk

Index EN-drove · drove · English

drove · rank #3,876 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,876
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH doc

Nearest frequency peer: doc (-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 “drove”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “drove” 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).

drove vs drown
60% similar
drove vs Druze
40% similar
drove vs droves
83% similar

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

Key facts for drove
PropertyValue
Headworddrove
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/dɹəʊv/
Letters5
Frequency rank#3,876
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “drove”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).drovelands 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 “doc” (#3,875), “ears” (#3,877), “divorce” (#3,874). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “drove” is #3,876. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around drove (IPA /dɹəʊv/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,876 among 3,470 “D” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for drove, with forms such as "ddrove", "dorve", and "droev". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "drown", "Druze", "droves", 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 drove, drof, draf, from Old English drāf (“action of driving; a driving out, expulsion; drove, herd, band; company, band; road along which cattle are driven”), from Proto-Germanic *draibō (“a drive, push, movement, drove”), from Proto-In… The correct English form is drove, spelled D-R-O-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A cattle drive or the herd being driven by it; thus, a number of cattle driven to market or new pastures.
  2. 2
    A large number of people on the move.
  3. 3
    A group of hares.
  4. 4
    A road or track along which cattle are habitually, used to be or could be driven; a droveway.
  5. 5
    A narrow drain or channel used in the irrigation of land.
  6. 6
    A broad chisel used to bring stone to a nearly smooth surface.
  7. 7
    The grooved surface of stone finished by the drove chisel.

Etymology

From Middle English drove, drof, draf, from Old English drāf (“action of driving; a driving out, expulsion; drove, herd, band; company, band; road along which cattle are driven”), from Proto-Germanic *draibō (“a drive, push, movement, drove”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreybʰ- (“to drive, push”). Cognate with Scots drave, dreef (“drove, crowd”), Dutch dreef (“a walkway, wide road with trees, drove”), Middle High German treip (“a drove”), Swedish drev (“a drive, drove”), Icelandic dreif (“a scattering, distribution”). More at drive.

This word in other languages

manada(Español)troupeau(Français)Herde(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ddrove
  • dorve
  • droev
  • drovve
  • drrove
  • drvoe
  • rdove

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

ddrove1dorve2droev2drovve1drrove1drvoe2rdove2
Edit distance from "drove"

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 "drove"?
"drove" is spelled D-R-O-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is /dɹəʊv/.
What does "drove" mean?
As a noun, "drove" means: A cattle drive or the herd being driven by it; thus, a number of cattle driven to market or new pastures.
What words are commonly confused with "drove"?
"drove" is commonly confused with "drown", "Druze", "droves". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "drove"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "drove" is /dɹəʊv/. 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 "drove"?
From Middle English drove, drof, draf, from Old English drāf (“action of driving; a driving out, expulsion; drove, herd, band; company, band; road along which cattle are driven”), from Proto-Germanic *draibō (“a drive, push, movement, drove”), fro... 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 "drove", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Diego#3,872daddy#3,870glory#3,884cents#3,866

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

begun7 variantslogic7 variantsWayne7 variantswaves7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list