affair
/əˈfɛə/
"affair" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“affair” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,284 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,284
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Something which is done or is to be done; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public.
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 | affair |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈfɛə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #4,284 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “affair” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for affair is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈfɛə/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,284 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for affair, with forms such as "afafir", "afair", and "affairr". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "affix", "afraid", "affirm", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English afere, affere, from Old French afaire, from a- + faire (“to do”), from Latin ad- + facere (“to do”). See fact, and compare ado. The correct English form is affair, spelled A-F-F-A-I-R.
Definition
- 1Something which is done or is to be done; business of any kind, commercial, professional, or public.
- 2Any proceeding or action which it is wished to refer to or characterize vaguely.
- 3An action or engagement not of sufficient magnitude to be called a battle.
- 4A material object (vaguely designated).
- 5An adulterous relationship, chiefly of a married person. (from affaire de cœur, affair of the heart).
- 6An otherwise illicit romantic relationship, such as with someone who is not one's regular partner (boyfriend, girlfriend).
- 7A person with whom someone has an adulterous relationship.
- 8A party or social gathering, especially of a formal nature.
- 9The (male or female) genitals.
Etymology
From Middle English afere, affere, from Old French afaire, from a- + faire (“to do”), from Latin ad- + facere (“to do”). See fact, and compare ado.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: afafir,afair,affairr,affari,affiar,fafair
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of affair - 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.
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 “affair”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-F-F-A-I-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈfɛə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “affix” - see the side-by-side comparison. affair vs affix
- 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.