diaper
/ˈdaɪ(ə)pə/
"diaper" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“diaper” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,142 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #15,142
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An absorbent garment worn around the crotch that retains the wearer's urine and feces, often worn by a baby or young child who is not yet toilet trained, or by an adult who is incontinent or wets t...
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 | diaper |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdaɪ(ə)pə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #15,142 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “diaper” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for diaper is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdaɪ(ə)pə/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,142 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 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 diaper, with forms such as "daiper", "ddiaper", and "diaepr". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "diner", "diver", "duper", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English dyaper, diapre, dyapre, from Old French diapre, dyapre, a variant of dyaspre, diaspre (“ornamental silk cloth embellished with floral or decorative geometrical patterns”), from Medieval Latin diaspra, diasprum (“a type of rich, valuable … The correct English form is diaper, spelled D-I-A-P-E-R.
Definition
- 1An absorbent garment worn around the crotch that retains the wearer's urine and feces, often worn by a baby or young child who is not yet toilet trained, or by an adult who is incontinent or wets the bed, or under extreme working conditions without access to a toilet; a nappy.
- 2A textile fabric having a repeating pattern, especially of diamonds or flowers, formed by alternating directions of thread.
- 3Something that absorbs and collects (retains) liquid or waste material, much like a diaper (noun sense 1).
- 4A piece of clothing that resembles the shape of a diaper (noun sense 1) but lacks the absorbency.
- 5A repeating geometrical or (often stylised) floral pattern, usually of small diamonds evenly spaced, that decorates a flat surface, sometimes in bas-relief; diaperwork.
- 6A repeating geometrical or floral pattern, used to cover the surface of a shield and forming the ground for any charges.
- 7A towel, napkin or tablecloth made from the diaper fabric (noun sense 2).
Etymology
From Middle English dyaper, diapre, dyapre, from Old French diapre, dyapre, a variant of dyaspre, diaspre (“ornamental silk cloth embellished with floral or decorative geometrical patterns”), from Medieval Latin diaspra, diasprum (“a type of rich, valuable silken cloth”), probably from Byzantine Greek δίασπρος (díaspros, “very white; pure white”, adjective), from δια- (dia-, “across”) + ἄσπρος (áspros, “white”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: daiper,ddiaper,diaepr,diaperr,diapper,diapre,dipaer,idaper
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of diaper - 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
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Using “diaper”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-A-P-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdaɪ(ə)pə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “diner” - see the side-by-side comparison. diaper vs diner
- 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.