aerobic
/ɛəˈɹəʊ.bɪk/
"aerobic" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“aerobic” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #22,563 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #22,563
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Living or occurring only in the presence of oxygen e.g. aerobic bacteria.
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 | aerobic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ɛəˈɹəʊ.bɪk/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #22,563 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “aerobic” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for aerobic is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɛəˈɹəʊ.bɪk/. Corpus data places it at rank #22,563 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for aerobic, with forms such as "aeorbic", "aerboic", and "aerobbic". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "Arabic", "aerobics", "anaerobic", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French aérobie, coined in 1863 by Louis Pasteur, from Ancient Greek ἀήρ (aḗr, “air”) + βίος (bíos, “life”) + -ic. The correct English form is aerobic, spelled A-E-R-O-B-I-C.
Definition
- 1Living or occurring only in the presence of oxygen e.g. aerobic bacteria.
- 2Of or relating to aerobics.
Etymology
From French aérobie, coined in 1863 by Louis Pasteur, from Ancient Greek ἀήρ (aḗr, “air”) + βίος (bíos, “life”) + -ic.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aeorbic,aerboic,aerobbic,aerobci,aerobicc,aeroibc,aerrobic,areobic,earobic
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of aerobic - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “aerobic”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-E-R-O-B-I-C - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɛəˈɹəʊ.bɪk/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Arabic” - see the side-by-side comparison. aerobic vs Arabic
- 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.