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PlainSpell

affect

af·fect/əˈfɛkt/verb, noun

affect is spelled A-F-F-E-C-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables (af·fect). It appears 39 times per million words in written English, the 2,523rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “affect vs effect” about 368,000 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, affect means “To influence or alter” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in affect?

Letters6: A-F-F-E-C-T
Syllables2: af·fect
In writing39 times per million words; the 2,523rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is affect?

Affect appears 39 times per million words in written English, the 2,523rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce affect?

  • US /əˈfɛkt/
  • Australia /əˈfekt/

As a verb (“To make a show of; to put on a pretense of; to feign; to…”): /əˈfɛkt/.

As a noun (“A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought…”): /ˈæ.fɛkt/.

Affect has 2 syllables, split af·fect in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-affect.ogg, En-au-affect.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with affect

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

affect vs effect368,000 G

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with affect?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as affect from its last stressed vowel (/ɛkt/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of affect

  • affects present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • affecting participle, present
  • affected participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does affect mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To influence or alter.

    The experience affected me deeply.

  2. 2

    To move to emotion.

    He was deeply affected by the tragic ending of the play.

  3. 3

    Of an illness or condition, to infect or harm (a part of the body).

    Hepatitis affects the liver.

  4. 4

    archaicTo dispose or incline.

  5. 5

    archaicTo tend to by affinity or disposition.

  6. 6

    archaicTo assign; to appoint.

  7. 7

    To burden (property) with a fixed charge or payment, or other condition or restriction.

  8. 8

    archaicTo feign or pretend.

  9. 9

    To make a show of; to put on a pretense of; to feign; to assume. To make a false display of.

    to affect ignorance

  10. 10

    obsoleteTo aim for, to try to obtain.

  11. 11

    rareTo feel affection for (someone); to like, be fond of.

  12. 12

    obsoleteTo show a fondness for (something); to choose.

noun

  1. 1

    A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought or other stimulus; mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in external physical signs.

  2. 2

    obsoleteOne's mood or inclination; mental state.

  3. 3

    obsoleteA desire, an appetite.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Affect in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchaffecter, toucher (to influence or alter), émouvoir (to move to emotion), feindre (to make a false display of)
Germanbeeinflussen (to influence or alter), rühren, bewegen (to move to emotion), mögen, leiden können, gernhaben (to feel affection for; to like, be fond of)
Portugueseafetar (to influence or alter), comover (to move to emotion), fingir (to make a false display of), afeto (psychology: feeling in response to a stimulus)
Spanishafectar, incidir (to influence or alter), conmover (to move to emotion), fingir (to make a false display of)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does affect come from?

From Middle English affecten, from Latin affectāre, from Latin affectus, the participle stem of Latin afficere (“to act upon, influence, affect, attack with disease”), from ad- + facere (“to make, do”). By surface analysis, af- + Latin -fect.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after affect