move
/muːv/
"move" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“move” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #447 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #447
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To change place or posture; to go, in any manner, from one place or position to another.
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 | move |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /muːv/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #447 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “move” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for move is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /muːv/. Corpus data places it at rank #447 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 16 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for move, with forms such as "mmove", "moev", and "movve". 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, "MV", "MVP", "MTV", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English moven, moeven, meven, borrowed from Old Northern French mover, moveir and Old French mouver, moveir (“to move”) (compare modern French mouvoir from Old French movoir), from Latin movēre (“move; change, exchange, go in or out, quit”), fro… The correct English form is move, spelled M-O-V-E.
Definition
- 1To change place or posture; to go, in any manner, from one place or position to another.
- 2To act; to take action; to begin to act
- 3To change residence, for example from one house, town, or state, to another; to go and live at another place; similarly to change the location of another establishment such as a business. See also move out and move in.
- 4To transport (an item) as part of changing residences.
- 5To cause to change place or posture in any manner; to set in motion; to carry, convey, draw, or push from one place to another
- 6To transfer (a piece) from one space or position on the board to another.
- 7To excite to action by the presentation of motives; to rouse by representation, persuasion, or appeal; to influence.
- 8To arouse the feelings or passions of; especially, to excite to tenderness or compassion, to excite (for example, an emotion).
- 9To propose; to recommend; specifically, to propose formally for consideration and determination, in a deliberative assembly; to submit
- 10To mention; to raise (a question); to suggest (a course of action); to lodge (a complaint).
- 11To incite, urge (someone to do something); to solicit (someone for or of an issue); to make a proposal to.
- 12To apply to, as for aid.
- 13To request an action from the court.
- 14To bow or salute upon meeting.
- 15To sell or market (especially physical inventory or illicit drugs).
- 16To transfer the value of one object in memory to another efficiently (i.e., without copying it in entirety).
Etymology
From Middle English moven, moeven, meven, borrowed from Old Northern French mover, moveir and Old French mouver, moveir (“to move”) (compare modern French mouvoir from Old French movoir), from Latin movēre (“move; change, exchange, go in or out, quit”), from Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁- (“to move, drive”). Cognate with Lithuanian mauti (“to push on, rush”), Sanskrit मीवति (mī́vati, “pushes, presses, moves”), Middle Dutch mouwe (“sleeve”). Largely displaced native English stir, from Middle English stiren, sturien, from Old English styrian.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: mmove,moev,movve,mvoe,omve
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of move - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “move”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-O-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /muːv/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “MV” - see the side-by-side comparison. move vs MV
- 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.