prop up
/ˌpɹɒp ˈʌp/
"prop-up" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“prop up” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To support with, or as if with, a prop.
Corpus desk
Index EN-prop-up · prop up · English
prop up · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | prop up |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˌpɹɒp ˈʌp/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “prop up” in English
Rare enough to double-check
prop up is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˌpɹɒp ˈʌp/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for prop up, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is prop up, spelled P-R-O-P- -U-P.
Definition
- 1To support with, or as if with, a prop.
- 2To be at the bottom of (a league).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how prop up appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
A $465 million federal loan in 2010 helped prop up Tesla at a crucial juncture, and its customers have benefitted from hefty tax incentives.
Under Moyes, United have fewer home points (21) than Norwich City and Hull City, with their count of 18 goals the same as Fulham and Cardiff City, who prop up the table.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.