far and away

adv

"far-and-away" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“far and away” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - By a large degree or margin; greatly (used before comparative and superlative adjectives).

Corpus desk

Index EN-far-and-away · far and away · English

far and away · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "F" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for far and away
PropertyValue
Headwordfar and away
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “far and away” in English

far and awayfalls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

far and away is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "By a large degree or margin; greatly (used before comparative and superlative adjectives).".

far and away doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is far and away, spelled F-A-R- -A-N-D- -A-W-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    By a large degree or margin; greatly (used before comparative and superlative adjectives).

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Their coffee is far and away the best in town.

Synonyms

by far § Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "far and away"?
"far and away" is spelled F-A-R- -A-N-D- -A-W-A-Y.
What does "far and away" mean?
As an adverb, "far and away" means: By a large degree or margin; greatly (used before comparative and superlative adjectives).
What language does "far and away" come from?
"far and away" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list