make love

verb

"make-love" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“make love” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To make amorous approaches (to); to woo, romance, court.

Key facts for make love
PropertyValue
Headwordmake love
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “make love” sits in English frequency

make love falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for make love is 9 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

make love doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of Old Occitan far amor, Middle French faire l'amour. The correct English form is make love, spelled M-A-K-E- -L-O-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    To make amorous approaches (to); to woo, romance, court.
  2. 2
    To engage in sexual intercourse.

Etymology

Calque of Old Occitan far amor, Middle French faire l'amour.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "make love"?
"make love" is spelled M-A-K-E- -L-O-V-E.
What does "make love" mean?
As a verb, "make love" means: To make amorous approaches (to); to woo, romance, court.
What is the origin of the word "make love"?
Calque of Old Occitan far amor, Middle French faire l'amour. 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 “make love”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is M-A-K-E- -L-O-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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