pope
/pəʊp/
"pope" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pope” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,776. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #3,776
- frequency rank, English
- 46,516
- “P” headwords
- 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.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pope · pope · English
pope · rank #3,776 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,776
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 46,516
- PHOTO-FINISH pen
Nearest frequency peer: pen (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “pope”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- pace
pace
96,228 corpus weight
- passenger
passenger
96,227 corpus weight
- pen
pen
96,226 corpus weight
- pope
pope
96,225 corpus weight
- possession
possession
96,224 corpus weight
- PP
PP
96,223 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “pope” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around pope (IPA /pəʊp/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,776 among 46,516 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 14 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pope appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Þa wæs in þa tid Uitalius papa þæs apostolican seðles aldorbiscop.
The Pope is not going to issue a bull condemning the Spanish Church's support of France and destroy the Church's right to exist in Spain.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "pope"?
What does "pope" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pope", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
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.