rope

/ɹəʊp/

//ɹəʊp// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"rope" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“rope” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,517 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#6,517
frequency rank, English
4
letters
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

rope vs RP
0% similar
rope vs row
50% similar
rope vs Roy
25% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for rope
PropertyValue
Headwordrope
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɹəʊp/
Letters4
Frequency rank#6,517
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “rope” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). rope lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for rope is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɹəʊp/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,517 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 17 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 rope, with forms such as "orpe", "roep", and "roppe". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "RP", "row", "Roy", 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 rop, rope, from Old English rāp (“rope, cord, cable”), from Proto-West Germanic *raip, from Proto-Germanic *raipaz, *raipą (“rope, cord, band, ringlet”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁roypnós (“strap, band, rope”), from *h₁reyp- (“to peel … The correct English form is rope, spelled R-O-P-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line.
  2. 2
    An individual length of such material.
  3. 3
    A cohesive strand of something.
  4. 4
    A continuous stream.
  5. 5
    A hard line drive.
  6. 6
    A long thin segment of soft clay, either extruded or formed by hand.
  7. 7
    A data structure resembling a string, using a concatenation tree in which each leaf represents a character.
  8. 8
    A kind of chaff (material dropped to interfere with radar) consisting of foil strips with paper chutes attached.
  9. 9
    A unit of distance equivalent to the distance covered in six months by a god flying at ten million miles per second.
  10. 10
    A necklace of at least one meter in length.
  11. 11
    Cordage of at least one inch in diameter, or a length of such cordage.
  12. 12
    A unit of length equal to twenty feet.
  13. 13
    Rohypnol.
  14. 14
    Semen being ejaculated.
  15. 15
    Death by hanging.
  16. 16
    An apparatus, currently with limited use by the senior contestants and not used in world-wide tournaments.
  17. 17
    An apparatus, currently with limited use by the senior contestants and not used in world-wide tournaments.

Etymology

From Middle English rop, rope, from Old English rāp (“rope, cord, cable”), from Proto-West Germanic *raip, from Proto-Germanic *raipaz, *raipą (“rope, cord, band, ringlet”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁roypnós (“strap, band, rope”), from *h₁reyp- (“to peel off, tear; border, edge, strip”). Cognates Cognate with Scots rape, raip (“rope”), Saterland Frisian Roop (“rope”), West Frisian reap (“rope, cord”), Dutch roop, reep (“rope, cord, ring, strip, bar”), German Low German Reep (“rope”), Swedish rep (“rope”), Danish reb (“rope”), Icelandic reipi (“rope”), Albanian rrip (“belt, rope”).

This word in other languages

soga(Español)corde(Français)Seil(Deutsch)corda(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: orpe,roep,roppe,rpoe,rrope

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of rope - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

orpe2roep2roppe1rpoe2rrope1
Edit distance from "rope"

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 "rope"?
"rope" is spelled R-O-P-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ɹəʊp/.
What does "rope" mean?
As a noun, "rope" means: Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line.
What words are commonly confused with "rope"?
"rope" is commonly confused with "RP", "row", "Roy". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "rope"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "rope" is /ɹəʊp/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "rope"?
From Middle English rop, rope, from Old English rāp (“rope, cord, cable”), from Proto-West Germanic *raip, from Proto-Germanic *raipaz, *raipą (“rope, cord, band, ringlet”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁roypnós (“strap, band, rope”), from *h₁reyp- ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “rope”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is R-O-P-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /ɹəʊp/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “RP” - see the side-by-side comparison. rope vs RP
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list