far and wide

adv

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

The verdict

“far and wide” 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) - Over a great distance or large area; nearly everywhere.

Corpus desk

Index EN-far-and-wide · far and wide · English

far and wide · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-4 4 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 wide
PropertyValue
Headwordfar and wide
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdverb
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

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

far and widefalls 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 wide is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Over a great distance or large area; nearly everywhere.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for far and wide, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fer and wide (“far and wide”). Compare Middle English wide and side, widen and siden (“far and wide”), from Old English wīde and sīde (“far and wide”). The correct English form is far and wide, spelled F-A-R- -A-N-D- -W-I-D-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Over a great distance or large area; nearly everywhere.

Etymology

From Middle English fer and wide (“far and wide”). Compare Middle English wide and side, widen and siden (“far and wide”), from Old English wīde and sīde (“far and wide”).

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "far and wide"?
"far and wide" is spelled F-A-R- -A-N-D- -W-I-D-E.
What does "far and wide" mean?
As an adverb, "far and wide" means: Over a great distance or large area; nearly everywhere.
What is the origin of the word "far and wide"?
From Middle English fer and wide (“far and wide”). Compare Middle English wide and side, widen and siden (“far and wide”), from Old English wīde and sīde (“far and wide”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
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Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list