afternoon
/ˌɑːf.təˈnuːn/
"afternoon" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“afternoon” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,927 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,927
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The part of the day from noon or lunchtime until sunset, evening, or suppertime or 6pm.
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 | afternoon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌɑːf.təˈnuːn/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #1,927 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “afternoon” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for afternoon is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌɑːf.təˈnuːn/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,927 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for afternoon, with forms such as "afetrnoon", "affternoon", and "aftenroon". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "afternoons", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English afternone, after-non, equivalent to after- + noon. The correct English form is afternoon, spelled A-F-T-E-R-N-O-O-N.
Definition
- 1The part of the day from noon or lunchtime until sunset, evening, or suppertime or 6pm.
- 2The later part of anything, often with implications of decline.
- 3A party or social event held in the afternoon.
Etymology
From Middle English afternone, after-non, equivalent to after- + noon.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: afetrnoon,affternoon,aftenroon,afternnoon,afternon,afternono,afternoonn,afteronon,afterrnoon,aftrenoon,aftternoon,atfernoon,faternoon
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of afternoon - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "afternoon"?
What does "afternoon" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "afternoon"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “afternoon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-F-T-E-R-N-O-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɑːf.təˈnuːn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “afternoons” - see the side-by-side comparison. afternoon vs afternoons
- 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.