airplane
/ˈɛəˌpleɪ̯n/
"airplane" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“airplane” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,004 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,004
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A powered heavier-than-air aircraft with fixed wings.
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 | airplane |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɛəˌpleɪ̯n/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #8,004 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “airplane” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for airplane is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɛəˌpleɪ̯n/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,004 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for airplane, with forms such as "aiprlane", "airlpane", and "airpalne". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "airplay", "airline", "aeroplane", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewsér Proto-Hellenic *auhḗr Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr)bor. Latin āēr Old French airbor. Middle English aire English air ▲ Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr) Ancient Greek πλανάω (planáō) Ancient Greek πλ… The correct English form is airplane, spelled A-I-R-P-L-A-N-E.
Definition
- 1A powered heavier-than-air aircraft with fixed wings.
- 2A game to encourage small children to eat, in which the parent or carer pretends a spoonful of food is an aircraft flying into the child's mouth.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewsér Proto-Hellenic *auhḗr Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr)bor. Latin āēr Old French airbor. Middle English aire English air ▲ Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr) Ancient Greek πλανάω (planáō) Ancient Greek πλάνος (plános) Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ερόπλᾰνος (āeróplănos)der. French aéroplanebor. English aeroplaneclip. English plane English airplane From air + plane as an alteration of aeroplane.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aiprlane,airlpane,airpalne,airplaen,airplanne,airpllane,airplnae,airpplane,airrplane,ariplane,iarplane
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of airplane - 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
How do you spell "airplane"?
What does "airplane" mean?
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Using “airplane”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-I-R-P-L-A-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɛəˌpleɪ̯n/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “airplay” - see the side-by-side comparison. airplane vs airplay
- 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.