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PlainSpell

drug

/ˈdɹʌɡ/noun, verb

drug is spelled D-R-U-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 74 times per million words in written English, the 1,427th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “drag vs drug” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, drug means “A substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of drug is drugs.

How many letters and syllables are in drug?

Letters4: D-R-U-G
Syllables1
In writing74 times per million words; the 1,427th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is drug?

Drug appears 74 times per million words in written English, the 1,427th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce drug?

  • US /ˈdɹʌɡ/
  • US [ˈdɹ̝ʷʌɡ]
  • US [ˈd̠ɹ̠˔ʷʌɡ]

Drug has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-drug.ogg, En-uk-drug.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with drug

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

drag vs drug50 G

Also written: drugstore.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with drug?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as drug from its last stressed vowel (/ʌɡ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of drug

  • drugs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • drugging participle, present
  • drugged participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does drug mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose.

    Aspirin is a drug that reduces pain, acts against inflammation and lowers body temperature.

  2. 2

    A psychoactive substance, especially one which is illegal and addictive, ingested for recreational use, such as cocaine.

    We took drugs and partied all night.

  3. 3

    Anything, such as a substance, emotion, or action, to which one is addicted.

  4. 4

    Any commodity that lies on hand, or is not salable; an article of slow sale, or in no demand.

  5. 5

    CanadaUSinformalEllipsis of drugstore.

  6. 6

    obsoleteA drudge.

verb

  1. 1

    To administer intoxicating drugs to, generally without the recipient's knowledge or consent.

    She suddenly felt strange, and only then realized she'd been drugged.

  2. 2

    To add intoxicating drugs to with the intention of drugging someone.

    She suddenly felt strange. She realized her drink must have been drugged.

  3. 3

    To prescribe or administer drugs or medicines.

  4. 4

    rareTo use intoxicating drugs.

  5. 5

    USsimple past and past participle of drag (a form of drag)

    You look like someone drug you behind a horse for half a mile.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Drug in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdrogue (substance used as a medical treatment – see…), droguer (to administer intoxicating drugs)
GermanArznei, Droge, Medikament (substance used as a medical treatment – see…), Rauschgift, Rauschmittel (psychoactive substance ingested for…)
Spanishdroga, fármaco (substance used as a medical treatment – see…), drogar, endrogar, pichicatear (to administer intoxicating drugs), narcótico (psychoactive substance ingested for…)
Portuguesedrogar (to administer intoxicating drugs), droga, narcótico (psychoactive substance ingested for…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does drug come from?

From Middle English drogge (“medicine”), from Middle French drogue, drocque (“tincture, pharmaceutical product”) (c. 1462), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German droge, as in droge vate (“dry vats, dry barrels”), mistaking droge for the contents, which were usually dried herbs, plants or wares. Droge comes from Middle Dutch drōghe (“dry”), from Old Dutch drōgi (“dry”), from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (“dry, hard”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerǵʰ- (“to strengthen; become hard or solid”), from *dʰer- (“to hold, hold fast, support”). Displaced native Old English lybb (“drug, medicine”)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after drug