We have a Pope.
Source: tatoeba (1790)
Pope
/poʊp/
Synonyms for "pope" (51 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (11)
Noun(4 words)
Strong matches (15)
Related words (25)
Choosing the right synonym
- Closest matches in this entry: bishop of rome, pontiff, vicar of christ, abuna, antipope.
- Sentence evidence is available for pope, so synonym choice can be checked against real usage rather than a flat word list.
- Ranking signals come from wiktionary, wordnet, opengloss, moby, and related lexical sources.
Synonym selection checklist
- Match the part of speech before comparing meanings.
- Check whether the synonym changes intensity, formality, or emotional tone.
- Read the replacement inside the full sentence, not just beside "pope".
- Prefer the clearest word over the most unusual word when writing for speed or comprehension.
When not to replace "pope"
Keep "pope" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Replacement workflow
1. Preserve meaning
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "pope" intact in the sentence you are editing.
2. Tune tone
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
3. Re-read context
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
Final fit check
After choosing a replacement for "pope", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "pope" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Translations
149 translations across 102 languages.
Afrikaans
1 entries- pous noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Albanian
1 entries- papë noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Arabic
3 entries- بَابَا noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- حَبْر noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- حَبْر أَعْظَم noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Aragonese
1 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Armenian
2 entries- Հռոմի պապ noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- պապ noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Asturian
1 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Azerbaijani
2 entries- Roma papası noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Bavarian German
1 entries- Papst noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Belarusian
2 entries- па́па noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- па́па ры́мскі noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Bengali
1 entries- ধর্মযাজক noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Bulgarian
2 entries- па́па noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- па́па Ри́мски noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Burmese
1 entries- ပုပ်ရဟန်းမင်းကြီး noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Catalan
1 entries- Papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Chinese
2 entries- 教宗 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- 教皇 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Chinese Cantonese
2 entries- 教宗 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- 教皇 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Chinese Mandarin
3 entries- 教宗 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- 教皇 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- 羅馬教宗 /罗马教宗 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Classical Nahuatl
1 entries- huēyi teōpixcātlahtoāni noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Czech
1 entries- papež noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Danish
1 entries- pave noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Dutch
1 entries- paus noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Esperanto
1 entries- papo noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Estonian
1 entries- paavst noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Extremaduran
1 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Faroese
1 entries- pávi noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Finnish
1 entries- paavi noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
French
2 entries- pape noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- papesse noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Galician
1 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Georgian
2 entries- პაპი noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- რომის პაპი noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
German
2 entries- Papst noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- Päpstin noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Greek
1 entries- πάπας noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Gujarati
3 entries- ધર્મગુરુ noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- પાપા noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- પોપ noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Haitian Creole
1 entries- pap noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Hakka Chinese
1 entries- 教宗 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Hebrew
1 entries- אפיפיור \ אַפִּיפְיוֹר noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Hindi
1 entries- पोप noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Hungarian
1 entries- pápa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Icelandic
1 entries- páfi noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Ido
1 entries- papo noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Indonesian
1 entries- paus noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Irish
1 entries- pápa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Italian
2 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- pontefice noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Japanese
3 entries- ローマ教皇 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- 教皇 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- 法王 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Kazakh
2 entries- Рим папасы noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- папа noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Khmer
1 entries- សម្ដេចប៉ាប noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Konkani
1 entries- पापसायब noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Korean
3 entries- 교황 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- 로마 교황 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- 법왕 noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Kyrgyz
2 entries- Рим папасы noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- папа noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Lao
1 entries- ສັນຕະປາປາ noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Latin
2 entries- pater noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- pāpa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Latvian
1 entries- pāvests noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Limburgish
1 entries- paus noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Lingala
1 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Lithuanian
1 entries- popiežius noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Luxembourgish
1 entries- Poopst noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Macedonian
1 entries- папа noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Malay
1 entries- paus noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Manx
1 entries- paab noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Middle French
1 entries- pappe noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Mirandese
1 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Mongolian
2 entries- Ромын пап noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- пап noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Māori
1 entries- popi noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Norman
1 entries- pape noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Norwegian Bokmål
1 entries- pave noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Norwegian Nynorsk
1 entries- pave noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Occitan
1 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Old English
1 entries- pāpa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Old Irish
1 entries- pápa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Old Norse
1 entries- páfi noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Pannonian Rusyn
1 entries- папа noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Persian
1 entries- پاپ noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Plautdietsch
2 entries- Papst (nds) noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- Pop noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Polish
2 entries- papież noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- papieżyca noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Portuguese
2 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- papisa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Romani
1 entries- pëpa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Romanian
2 entries- papă noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- pëpa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Russian
2 entries- па́па noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- па́па ри́мский noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Scottish Gaelic
1 entries- pàp noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Serbo-Croatian
2 entries- pȃpa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- па̑па noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Shan
2 entries- မုၼ်ၸဝ်ႈပူပ်ႉ noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- ၸဝ်ႈမုၼ်ပူပ်ႉ noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Slovak
1 entries- pápež noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Slovene
1 entries- papež noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Sotho
1 entries- mopapa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Spanish
4 entries- Papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- vicecristo noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- vicediós noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Sranan Tongo
1 entries- pawsu noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Swahili
1 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Swedish
1 entries- påve noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Tagalog
2 entries- Santo Papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Tajik
3 entries- папа noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- папаи Рим noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- поп noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Tatar
1 entries- Рим папасы noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Thai
2 entries- สันตะปาปา noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- โป๊ป noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Turkish
1 entries- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Turkmen
2 entries- Rim papasy noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Ukrainian
2 entries- па́па noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- па́па ри́мський noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Upper Sorbian
1 entries- bamž noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Urdu
1 entries- پوپ noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Uzbek
3 entries- Rim papasi noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- papa noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- pop noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Vietnamese
2 entries- giáo hoàng noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- giáo hoàng ở La Mã noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Volapük
4 entries- hipapal noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- jipapal noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- pap noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- papal noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Welsh
1 entries- pab noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Welsh-Romani
1 entries- 'måro båro rašaj noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Yiddish
2 entries- פּויפּס noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
- פּויפּסט noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Yup'ik
1 entries- allgiliyaq noun (head of the Roman Catholic Church)
Sample sentences
59 total sentences available.
Even people who don't believe in the Catholic church venerate the Pope as a symbolic leader.
Source: tatoeba (1940)
As I read through the letters, I realized that the Pope was the true culprit.
Source: tatoeba (246527)
The pope appeared in his red robe.
Source: tatoeba (321031)
Showing 4 of 59 available sentences.
Common questions
What are the closest synonyms for "pope"?
Closest matches include bishop of rome, pontiff, vicar of christ, abuna, antipope.
How should I check whether a synonym fits "pope"?
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.