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” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,876 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#3,876
frequency rank, English
5
letters
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A cattle drive or the herd being driven by it; thus, a number of cattle driven to market or new pastures.

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)

Where “drove” 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). drove 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 drove is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɹəʊv/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,876 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

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.

Using “drove”

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

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