avatar
/əʋ(ə)t̪ɑr/
"avatar" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“avatar” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,339 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,339
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
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 | avatar |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əʋ(ə)t̪ɑr/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #11,339 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “avatar” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for avatar is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əʋ(ə)t̪ɑr/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,339 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for avatar, with forms such as "aavtar", "avaatr", and "avatarr". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "aviator", "altar", "Akhtar", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: First use appears c. 1784, in The Hindu Wife; or, The Enchanted Fruit, by William Jones. Borrowed from Hindustani अवतार (avtār) / اوتار (avtār), from Sanskrit अवतार (avatāra, “descent of a deity from a heaven”), a compound of अव (ava, “off, away, down”) and… The correct English form is avatar, spelled A-V-A-T-A-R.
Definition
- 1An incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
- 2The embodiment of an idea or concept; an instantiation, especially a personification or incarnation.
- 3A complex and dynamic digital representation of a person or being in the form of a digital model, used online as a simulation or emulation of a person, or as a person's online alter ego, in a virtual world, virtual chat room, or metaverse.
- 4A simple and static or nearly static digital representation of a person or being in the form of a small digital object, used online as a simulacrum or token of a person or that person's online alter ego, in any digital environment but especially in nonvirtual, nonmetaversal ones.
Etymology
First use appears c. 1784, in The Hindu Wife; or, The Enchanted Fruit, by William Jones. Borrowed from Hindustani अवतार (avtār) / اوتار (avtār), from Sanskrit अवतार (avatāra, “descent of a deity from a heaven”), a compound of अव (ava, “off, away, down”) and the vṛddhi-stem of the root तॄ (tṝ, “to cross”) (whence तरति (tarati)). In the computing sense, some use appeared in video games in the 1980s, such as the online roleplaying game Habitat (1985) by Lucasfilm Games (today LucasArts), by Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer, later versions of the Ultima series (following religious use in Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (1985)), and the pen and paper role-playing game Shadowrun (1989). Also popularized by the novel Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aavtar,avaatr,avatarr,avatra,avattar,avtaar,avvatar,vaatar
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of avatar - 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
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Using “avatar”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-V-A-T-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əʋ(ə)t̪ɑr/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “aviator” - see the side-by-side comparison. avatar vs aviator
- 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.