autofocus

noun

"autofocus" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“autofocus” is uncommon English (frequency #51,551 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,551
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A feature of some cameras and other optical systems that allows a correct focus on the subject to be obtained automatically

Corpus desk

Index EN-autofocus · autofocus · English

autofocus · rank #51,551 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,551
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH Audra

Nearest frequency peer: Audra (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “autofocus”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “autofocus” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for autofocus
PropertyValue
Headwordautofocus
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#51,551
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “autofocus” in English

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).autofocusfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Audra” (#51,550), “ATPase” (#51,549), “Baghdadi” (#51,553). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “autofocus” is #51,551. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

autofocus is uncommon English at frequency #51,551 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A feature of some cameras and other optical systems that allows a correct focus on the subject to be obtained automatically".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for autofocus, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: From auto- + focus. The correct English form is autofocus, spelled A-U-T-O-F-O-C-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    A feature of some cameras and other optical systems that allows a correct focus on the subject to be obtained automatically

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. This camera has autofocus, so it's more expensive.

Etymology

From auto- + focus.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

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 "autofocus"?
"autofocus" is spelled A-U-T-O-F-O-C-U-S.
What does "autofocus" mean?
As a noun, "autofocus" means: A feature of some cameras and other optical systems that allows a correct focus on the subject to be obtained automatically
What is the origin of the word "autofocus"?
From auto- + focus. 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 "autofocus", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list