appearance

/əˈpɪə.ɹəns/

//əˈpɪə.ɹəns// noun

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

"appearance" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“appearance” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,058. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,058
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
13
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye.

Corpus desk

Index EN-appearance · appearance · English

appearance · rank #2,058 · 13 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,058
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH women's

Nearest frequency peer: women's (-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 “appearance”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “appearance” 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 appearance
PropertyValue
Headwordappearance
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/əˈpɪə.ɹəns/
Letters10
Frequency rank#2,058
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “appearance”

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).appearancelands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “women's” (#2,057), “Asian” (#2,059), “wins” (#2,056). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “appearance” is #2,058. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around appearance (IPA /əˈpɪə.ɹəns/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,058 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 8 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for appearance, with forms such as "apearance", "apeparance", and "appaerance". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French apparence, from Latin apparentia, from appareo. Morphologically appear + -ance. Doublet of apparence and apparency. Displaced native Old English hīew (“the way something looks or seems”) and ætīewednes (“act of appearing or comin… The correct English form is appearance, spelled A-P-P-E-A-R-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye.
  2. 2
    A thing seen; a phenomenon; an apparition.
  3. 3
    The way something looks; personal presence
  4. 4
    Apparent likeness; the way which something or someone appears to others.
  5. 5
    That which is not substance, essence, hypostasis; the outward reality as opposed to the underlying reality
  6. 6
    The act of appearing in a particular place, or in society, a company, or any proceedings; a coming before the public in a particular character.
  7. 7
    An instance of someone coming into a court of law to be part of a trial, lawsuit or other proceeding, either in person or represented by an attorney or such like; a court appearance
  8. 8
    Chiefly used by nurses: the act of defecation by a patient.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. His sudden appearance surprised me.
  2. There was a strange appearance in the sky.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French apparence, from Latin apparentia, from appareo. Morphologically appear + -ance. Doublet of apparence and apparency. Displaced native Old English hīew (“the way something looks or seems”) and ætīewednes (“act of appearing or coming into view”).

Synonyms

arrivalmanifestationspectacleapparitionphenomenonpresenceaspectairfigurelookmannermiensemblanceshowpretensefaçadefacadedebut

Antonyms

non-appearancenonappearance

This word in other languages

aparición(Español)apparition(Français)Erscheinen(Deutsch)aparição(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • apearance
  • apeparance
  • appaerance
  • appeaarnce
  • appearacne
  • appearancce
  • appearanec
  • appearannce
  • appearence
  • appearnace
  • appearrance
  • apperaance
  • papearance

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

apearance1apeparance2appaerance2appeaarnce2appearacne2appearancce1appearanec2appearannce1
Edit distance from "appearance"

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 "appearance"?
"appearance" is spelled A-P-P-E-A-R-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈpɪə.ɹəns/.
What does "appearance" mean?
As a noun, "appearance" means: The act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye.
What are common misspellings of "appearance"?
Common misspellings include "apearance", "apeparance", "appaerance", "appeaarnce", "appearacne". The correct spelling is "appearance".
How do you pronounce "appearance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "appearance" is /əˈpɪə.ɹəns/. 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 "appearance"?
Borrowed from Middle French apparence, from Latin apparentia, from appareo. Morphologically appear + -ance. Doublet of apparence and apparency. Displaced native Old English hīew (“the way something looks or seems”) and ætīewednes (“act of appearin... 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 "appearance", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

republican#2,053historical#2,073originally#2,084supporting#2,018

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

brothers13 variantsexpensive13 variantshonestly13 variantsspending13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list