gallop
/ˈɡæləp/
"gallop" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gallop” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,850 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #27,850
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The fastest gait of a horse, a two-beat stride during which all four legs are off the ground simultaneously.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gallop |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡæləp/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #27,850 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “gallop” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for gallop is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɡæləp/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,850 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 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 gallop, with forms such as "agllop", "gallopp", and "gallpo". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "Gallup", "gallows", "gall", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English galopen (“to gallop”), from Old French galoper (compare modern French galoper), from Frankish *wala hlaupan (“to run well”), from *wala (“well”) + *hlaupan (“to run”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to run, leap, spring”), from Proto-In… The correct English form is gallop, spelled G-A-L-L-O-P.
Definition
- 1The fastest gait of a horse, a two-beat stride during which all four legs are off the ground simultaneously.
- 2An act or instance of going or running rapidly.
- 3An abnormal rhythm of the heart, made up of three or four sounds, like a horse's gallop.
- 4A rhythm consisting of an 8th note followed by two 16th notes, resembling a horse's gallop.
Etymology
From Middle English galopen (“to gallop”), from Old French galoper (compare modern French galoper), from Frankish *wala hlaupan (“to run well”), from *wala (“well”) + *hlaupan (“to run”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną (“to run, leap, spring”), from Proto-Indo-European *klaup-, *klaub- (“to spring, stumble”). Possibly also derived from a deverbal of Frankish *walhlaup (“battle run”) from *wal (“battlefield”) from a Proto-Germanic word meaning "dead, victim, slain" from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“death in battle, killed in battle”) + *hlaup (“course, track”) from *hlaupan (“to run”). More at well, leap, valkyrie. See also the doublet wallop, coming from the same source through an Old Northern French variant.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: agllop,gallopp,gallpo,galolp,galop,ggallop,glalop
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of gallop - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "gallop"?
What does "gallop" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "gallop"?
How do you pronounce "gallop"?
What is the origin of the word "gallop"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “gallop”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-A-L-L-O-P - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡæləp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Gallup” - see the side-by-side comparison. gallop vs Gallup
- 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.