coffee
/ˈkɒf.i/
"coffee" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“coffee” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,448 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,448
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A beverage made by infusing the beans of the coffee plant in hot water.
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 | coffee |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkɒf.i/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,448 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “coffee” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for coffee is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɒf.i/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,448 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for coffee, with forms such as "ccoffee", "cfofee", and "cofee". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "coffin", "confer", "Coffey", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa)bor. Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve)bor. Italian caffèbor. Dutch koffiebor. English coffee Borrowed from Dutch koffie, from Italian caffè, from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa). Doublet of café and … The correct English form is coffee, spelled C-O-F-F-E-E.
Definition
- 1A beverage made by infusing the beans of the coffee plant in hot water.
- 2A serving of this beverage.
- 3The seeds of the plant used to make coffee, called ‘beans’ due to their shape.
- 4The powder made by roasting and grinding the seeds.
- 5A tropical plant of the genus Coffea.
- 6A pale brown color, like that of milk coffee.
- 7The end of a meal, when coffee is served.
Etymology
Etymology tree Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa)bor. Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve)bor. Italian caffèbor. Dutch koffiebor. English coffee Borrowed from Dutch koffie, from Italian caffè, from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa). Doublet of café and caffè and cognate with the words for "coffee" in other major European languages, most of which are derived from the Turkish and Italian words.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccoffee,cfofee,cofee,cofefe,coffe,ocffee
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of coffee - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "coffee"?
What does "coffee" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "coffee"?
How do you pronounce "coffee"?
What is the origin of the word "coffee"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “coffee”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-F-F-E-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɒf.i/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “coffin” - see the side-by-side comparison. coffee vs coffin
- 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.