affinity

/əˈfɪnɪti/

//əˈfɪnɪti// noun

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

"affinity" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“affinity” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #12,723. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#12,723
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
10
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A natural attraction or feeling of kinship to a person or thing.

Corpus desk

Index EN-affinity · affinity · English

affinity · rank #12,723 · 10 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #12,723
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH addictive

Nearest frequency peer: addictive (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “affinity”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “affinity” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for affinity
PropertyValue
Headwordaffinity
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/əˈfɪnɪti/
Letters8
Frequency rank#12,723
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “affinity”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).affinitylands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “addictive” (#12,722), “alloy” (#12,724), “adaptive” (#12,721). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “affinity” is #12,723. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around affinity (IPA /əˈfɪnɪti/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,723 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for affinity, with forms such as "affiinty", "affinitty", and "affinityy". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English affinite, from Old French affinité. Ostensibly equivalent to affine + -ity. The correct English form is affinity, spelled A-F-F-I-N-I-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A natural attraction or feeling of kinship to a person or thing.
  2. 2
    A family relationship through marriage of a relative (e.g. sister-in-law), as opposed to consanguinity (e.g. sister).
  3. 3
    A kinsman or kinswoman of a such relationship; one who is affinal.
  4. 4
    The fact of and manner in which something is related to another.
  5. 5
    Any romantic relationship.
  6. 6
    A love interest; a paramour.
  7. 7
    Any passionate love for something.
  8. 8
    Resemblances between biological populations, suggesting that they have a common origin, type or stock.
  9. 9
    Structural resemblances between minerals; resemblances that suggest that they are of a common origin or type.
  10. 10
    An attractive force between atoms, or groups of atoms, that contributes towards their forming bonds.
  11. 11
    The attraction between an antibody and an antigen
  12. 12
    A tendency to keep a task running on the same processor in a symmetric multiprocessing operating system to reduce the frequency of cache misses.
  13. 13
    An automorphism of affine space.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how affinity appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. There are, of course, certain differences of detail; for example, the placing of the safety valves on the boiler barrel behind the dome, which follows the practice in the Riddles 2-8-0 and 2-10-0 locomotives for the Ministry of Supply; but taken all in all, Britannia's boiler has a closer affinity with the Doncaster designs than with any other.
  2. A “signature” was placed on all things by God to indicate their affinities — but it was hidden, hence the search for arcane knowledge. Knowing was guessing and interpreting, not observing or demonstrating.

Etymology

From Middle English affinite, from Old French affinité. Ostensibly equivalent to affine + -ity.

This word in other languages

afinidad(Español)affinité(Français)Affinität(Deutsch)afinidade(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • affiinty
  • affinitty
  • affinityy
  • affiniyt
  • affinnity
  • affintiy
  • affniity
  • afifnity
  • afinity
  • fafinity

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of affinity - 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.

affiinty2affinitty1affinityy1affiniyt2affinnity1affintiy2affniity2afifnity2
Edit distance from "affinity"

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 "affinity"?
"affinity" is spelled A-F-F-I-N-I-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈfɪnɪti/.
What does "affinity" mean?
As a noun, "affinity" means: A natural attraction or feeling of kinship to a person or thing.
What are common misspellings of "affinity"?
Common misspellings include "affiinty", "affinitty", "affinityy", "affiniyt", "affinnity". The correct spelling is "affinity".
How do you pronounce "affinity"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "affinity" is /əˈfɪnɪti/. 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 "affinity"?
From Middle English affinite, from Old French affinité. Ostensibly equivalent to affine + -ity. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "affinity", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

adaptive#12,721Valencia#12,711Carnegie#12,738casualty#12,739

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

vastly10 variantsDeborah10 variantsSwansea10 variantsDominic10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list