mope
/məʊp/
"mope" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mope” is uncommon English (frequency #70,921 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,921
- frequency rank, English
- 36,575
- “M” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To carry oneself in a depressed, lackadaisical manner; to give oneself up to low spirits; to pout, sulk.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mope |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /məʊp/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #70,921 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mope” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
mope is uncommon English at frequency #70,921 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /məʊp/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for mope in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Late Middle English (as a noun meaning "simpleton, fool"), probably related to mop (“young of an animal, moppet”). Alternatively, of North Germanic origin, related to Swedish mopa (“to sulk”), Danish måbe, themselves borrowed from Low German mopen (“to make… The correct English form is mope, spelled M-O-P-E.
Definition
- 1To carry oneself in a depressed, lackadaisical manner; to give oneself up to low spirits; to pout, sulk.
- 2To make spiritless and stupid.
Etymology
Late Middle English (as a noun meaning "simpleton, fool"), probably related to mop (“young of an animal, moppet”). Alternatively, of North Germanic origin, related to Swedish mopa (“to sulk”), Danish måbe, themselves borrowed from Low German mopen (“to make faces, gape”), of uncertain ultimate origin, but compare Proto-West Germanic *mauwu (“protruding lip, pout”). Compare also German muffen, French moue.
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); 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 “mope”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-P-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /məʊp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.