probe
/pɹəʊb/
"probe" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“probe” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,266 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,266
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
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 | probe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pɹəʊb/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #7,266 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “probe” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for probe is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɹəʊb/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,266 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for probe, with forms such as "porbe", "pprobe", and "prboe". 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, "pros", "prom", "prop", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: For verb: borrowed from Latin probare (“to test, examine, prove”), from probus (“good”). Doublet of prove. For noun: borrowed from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from probare (“to test, examine, prove”); Doublet of proof. Compare Spanish tienta (“a surgeon's… The correct English form is probe, spelled P-R-O-B-E.
Definition
- 1Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
- 2Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
- 3Something which penetrates something else, as though to explore; something which obtains information.
- 4An act of probing; a prod, a poke.
- 5An investigation or inquiry.
- 6A tube attached to an aircraft which can be fitted into the drogue from a tanker aircraft to allow for aerial refuelling.
- 7A small device, especially an electrode, used to explore, investigate or measure something by penetrating or being placed in it.
- 8A small, usually uncrewed, spacecraft used to acquire information or measurements about its surroundings.
- 9A move with multiple possible answers, seeking to make the opponent choose and commit to a strategy.
- 10Any group of atoms or molecules radioactively labeled in order to study a given molecule or other structure
Etymology
For verb: borrowed from Latin probare (“to test, examine, prove”), from probus (“good”). Doublet of prove. For noun: borrowed from Late Latin proba (“a proof”), from probare (“to test, examine, prove”); Doublet of proof. Compare Spanish tienta (“a surgeon's probe”), from tentar (“try, test”); see tempt.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: porbe,pprobe,prboe,probbe,proeb,prrobe,rpobe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of probe - 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
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Using “probe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-R-O-B-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɹəʊb/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pros” - see the side-by-side comparison. probe vs pros
- 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.