globe
/ɡləʊb/
"globe" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“globe” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,451 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,451
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any spherical (or nearly spherical) object.
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 | globe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡləʊb/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #4,451 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “globe” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for globe is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɡləʊb/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,451 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 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 globe, with forms such as "gglobe", "glboe", and "gllobe". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "gob", "gone", "glow", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From late Middle English globe, from Middle French globe, from Old French globe, borrowed from Latin globus. Doublet of globus. The correct English form is globe, spelled G-L-O-B-E.
Definition
- 1Any spherical (or nearly spherical) object.
- 2Any spherical (or nearly spherical) object.
- 3The planet Earth.
- 4A spherical model of Earth or other planet.
- 5A light bulb.
- 6A circular military formation used in Ancient Rome, corresponding to the modern infantry square.
- 7A woman's breast or buttock, whichever is more prominent.
- 8A group.
- 9A land snail of the genus Mesodon.
Etymology
From late Middle English globe, from Middle French globe, from Old French globe, borrowed from Latin globus. Doublet of globus.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: gglobe,glboe,gllobe,globbe,gloeb,golbe,lgobe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of globe - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “globe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-L-O-B-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɡləʊb/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “gob” - see the side-by-side comparison. globe vs gob
- 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.