patrol
/pəˈtɹəʊl/
"patrol" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“patrol” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,720 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,720
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 14
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A going of the rounds along the chain of sentinels and between the posts, by a guard, usually consisting of three or four men, to insure greater security from attacks on the outposts.
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 | patrol |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pəˈtɹəʊl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #5,720 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 14 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “patrol” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for patrol is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəˈtɹəʊl/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,720 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for patrol, with forms such as "aptrol", "partol", and "patorl". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 14 confusable-pair relationships, "patron", "petrol", "Patton", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French patrouille, from Old French patrouille, patouille (“a night-watch”, literally “a tramping about”), from patrouiller, patouiller, patoiller (“to paddle or pudder in water, dabble with the feet, begrime, besmear”), from patte, pate (“paw, foot of … The correct English form is patrol, spelled P-A-T-R-O-L.
Definition
- 1A going of the rounds along the chain of sentinels and between the posts, by a guard, usually consisting of three or four men, to insure greater security from attacks on the outposts.
- 2A movement, by a small body of troops beyond the line of outposts, to explore the country and gain intelligence of the enemy's whereabouts.
- 3The guards who go the rounds for observation; a detachment whose duty it is to patrol.
- 4The largest division of officers within a police department or sheriff's office, whose assignment is to patrol and respond to calls for service.
- 5Any perambulation of a particular line or district to guard it; also, the people thus guarding.
- 6A unit of a troop, usually defined by certain ranks or age groups within the troop, and ideally comprised of six to eight members.
Etymology
From French patrouille, from Old French patrouille, patouille (“a night-watch”, literally “a tramping about”), from patrouiller, patouiller, patoiller (“to paddle or pudder in water, dabble with the feet, begrime, besmear”), from patte, pate (“paw, foot of an animal”), from Vulgar Latin *patta (“paw, foot”), from Frankish *patta (“paw, sole of the foot”), from Proto-Germanic *paþjaną, *paþōną (“to walk, tread, go, step, pace”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pent-, *(s)pat- (“path; to walk”), a variant of Proto-Indo-European *pent-, *pat- (“path; to go”); see find. Cognate with Dutch pad, patte (“paw”), Low German pedden (“to step, tread”), German patschen (“to splash, smack, dabble, waddle”), German Patsche (“a swatter, beater, paw, puddle, mire”). Related to pad, path.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aptrol,partol,patorl,patrlo,patroll,patrrol,pattrol,ppatrol,ptarol
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of patrol - 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
How do you spell "patrol"?
What does "patrol" mean?
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Using “patrol”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-T-R-O-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pəˈtɹəʊl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “patron” - see the side-by-side comparison. patrol vs patron
- 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.