afloat

Name: afloat, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

/əˈfloʊt/

//əˈfloʊt// adv

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“afloat” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #18,750. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,750
frequency rank, English: 3,931
“A” headwords: 8
tracked misspellings: 4
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In or into a state of floating.

Corpus desk

Index EN-afloat · afloat · English

afloat · rank #18,750 · 8 variants · 4 confusables

FREQ-MID #18,750
LEN-LONG 6 letters
VOW-3 3 vowels
CONFUS-MID 4 pairs
VAR-MID 8 variants
BOOK-MID 3,931
PHOTO-FINISH agility

Nearest frequency peer: agility (+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.

adept

81,254
advantageous

81,253
afloat

81,251
agility

81,250
airbus

81,249
alba

81,248

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

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

afloat vs alot

67% similar

afloat vs aloft

67% similar

afloat vs afoot

67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for afloat
Property	Value
Headword	afloat
Language	English
Part of speech	Adverb
IPA	/əˈfloʊt/
Letters	6
Frequency rank	#18,750
Misspellings tracked	8
Confusable pairs	4
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “afloat”

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).afloatlands here:

#18,750

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “agility” (#18,751), “advantageous” (#18,748), “airbus” (#18,752). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “afloat” is #18,750. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around afloat (IPA /əˈfloʊt/), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #18,750 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for afloat, with forms such as "affloat", "aflaot", and "aflloat". 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. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "alot", "aloft", "afoot", 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 a- + float. The correct English form is afloat, spelled A-F-L-O-A-T.

Definition

1
In or into a state of floating.
2
In, or while in, a vessel at sea or on another body of water; at sea.
3
Under water (bearing floating objects).
4
In or into circulation or currency.
5
In or into a condition of stimulation, arousal, confusion, bewilderment, etc.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

You have so little Brains, that a Penn’orth of Butter melted under ’um, would set ’um afloat:
[…] I went down to my Boat, got the Water out of her, and got her afloat, loaded all my Cargo in her, and then went Home again for more;

Etymology

From a- + float.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

affloat
aflaot
aflloat
afloatt
aflota
afolat
alfoat
faloat

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

Edit distance from "afloat"

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 "afloat"?

"afloat" is spelled A-F-L-O-A-T. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈfloʊt/.

What does "afloat" mean?

As an adverb, "afloat" means: In or into a state of floating.

What words are commonly confused with "afloat"?

"afloat" is commonly confused with "alot", "aloft", "afoot". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

How do you pronounce "afloat"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "afloat" is /əˈfloʊt/. 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 "afloat"?

From a- + float. 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 "afloat", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

airbus#18,752 bailed#18,761 washer#18,734 blooms#18,769

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

brody8 variants canine8 variants Tombs8 variants studs8 variants