pope
/pəʊp/
"pope" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pope” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,776 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,776
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.
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 | pope |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pəʊp/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #3,776 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pope” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pope is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəʊp/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,776 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 14 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 pope, with forms such as "oppe", "poep", and "poppe". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "PP", "pot", "pos", 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 pope, popa, from Old English pāpa, from Vulgar Latin papa (title for priests and bishops, esp. and by 8th c. only the bishop of Rome), from early Byzantine Greek παπᾶς (papâs, title for priests and bishops, especially by 3rd c. the bisho… The correct English form is pope, spelled P-O-P-E.
Definition
- 1An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.
- 2An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.
- 3An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.
- 4An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.
- 5An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.
- 6An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state.
- 7An honorary title of the Coptic bishop of Alexandria as father and head of his church.
- 8An honorary title of the Orthodox bishop of Alexandria as father and head of his autocephalous church.
- 9Any bishop of the early Christian church.
- 10The ruffe, a small Eurasian freshwater fish (Gymnocephalus cernua); others of its genus.
- 11The Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica).
- 12The painted bunting (Passerina ciris).
- 13The red-cowled cardinal (Paroaria dominicana).
- 14Garlic, when used in addition to the Holy Trinity of celery, bell peppers and onions.
Etymology
From Middle English pope, popa, from Old English pāpa, from Vulgar Latin papa (title for priests and bishops, esp. and by 8th c. only the bishop of Rome), from early Byzantine Greek παπᾶς (papâs, title for priests and bishops, especially by 3rd c. the bishop of Alexandria), from late Ancient Greek πάπας (pápas, title for priests and bishops, in the sense of spiritual father), from πάππας (páppas, “papa, daddy”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: oppe,poep,poppe,ppoe,ppope
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pope - 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 "pope"?
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Using “pope”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-P-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pəʊp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “PP” - see the side-by-side comparison. pope vs PP
- 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.