# probe

> English word · Noun · IPA /pɹəʊb/ · frequency rank #7,266

## Definitions
1. Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
2. Any of various medical instruments used to explore wounds, organs, etc.
3. Something which penetrates something else, as though to explore; something which obtains information.
4. An act of probing; a prod, a poke.
5. An investigation or inquiry.
6. A tube attached to an aircraft which can be fitted into the drogue from a tanker aircraft to allow for aerial refuelling.
7. A small device, especially an electrode, used to explore, investigate or measure something by penetrating or being placed in it.
8. A small, usually uncrewed, spacecraft used to acquire information or measurements about its surroundings.
9. A move with multiple possible answers, seeking to make the opponent choose and commit to a strategy.
10. Any 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.

## Easily confused with
- **pros** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-pros)
- **prom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-prom)
- **prop** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-prop)
- **prod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-prod)
- **proc** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-proc)
- **prog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-prog)
- **Prot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-prot)
- **proud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-proud)
- **prove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-prove)
- **proof** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-proof)
- **prone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-prone)
- **promo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-promo)
- **proxy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-proxy)
- **props** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-props)
- **prose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-prose)
- **proto** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-proto)
- **prune** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-prune)
- **Provo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-provo)
- **prong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-prong)
- **probs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/probe-vs-probs)

## Common misspellings (7)
`porbe`, `pprobe`, `prboe`, `probbe`, `proeb`, `prrobe`, `rpobe`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/probe