football

/ˈfʊtbɔːl/

//ˈfʊtbɔːl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"football" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“football” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #806. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#806
frequency rank, English
18,613
“F” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A sport played on foot in which teams attempt to get a ball into a goal or zone defended by the other team.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

football vs footballer
80% similar
football vs fastball
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for football
PropertyValue
Headwordfootball
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈfʊtbɔːl/
Letters8
Frequency rank#806
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “football” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). football lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around football (IPA /ˈfʊtbɔːl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #806 among 18,613 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 13 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for football, with forms such as "ffootball", "foobtall", and "footabll". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "footballer", "fastball", 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 fotbal, footbal, equivalent to foot + ball, because the ball was primarily manipulated with the feet in early versions of the game (though some modern varieties involve more handling than kicking). The name for the briefcase is a play on… The correct English form is football, spelled F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A sport played on foot in which teams attempt to get a ball into a goal or zone defended by the other team.
  2. 2
    The ball used in any game called "football".
  3. 3
    Association football, also called soccer: a game in which two teams each contend to get a round ball into the other team's goal primarily by kicking the ball.
  4. 4
    American football: a game played on a field 100 yards long and 53 1/3 yards wide in which two teams of 11 players attempt to get an ovoid ball to the end of each other's territory.
  5. 5
    Canadian football: a game played on a field 110 yards long and 65 yards wide in which two teams of 12 players attempt to get an ovoid ball to the end of each other's territory.
  6. 6
    Australian rules football.
  7. 7
    Gaelic football: a field game played with similar rules to hurling, but using hands and feet rather than a stick, and a ball, similar to, yet smaller than a soccer ball.
  8. 8
    Any form of rugby.
  9. 9
    Any form of rugby.
  10. 10
    Any form of rugby.
  11. 11
    Practice of these particular games, or techniques used in them.
  12. 12
    An item of discussion, particularly in a back-and-forth manner
  13. 13
    The leather briefcase containing classified nuclear war plans which is always near the US President.

Etymology

From Middle English fotbal, footbal, equivalent to foot + ball, because the ball was primarily manipulated with the feet in early versions of the game (though some modern varieties involve more handling than kicking). The name for the briefcase is a play on “dropkick”, the code name of an early version of the nuclear war plan.

Synonyms

association footballsoccersoccer footballfootballfootyfootiefooteroikballwogballAmerican footballgridirongridiron footballCanadian footballAussie rulesVFLAFLleagueballpillsoccer ballpigskinrugby ball

This word in other languages

fútbol(Español)football(Français)Fußball(Deutsch)futebol(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ffootball
  • foobtall
  • footabll
  • footbal
  • footbball
  • footblal
  • foottball
  • fotball
  • fotoball
  • ofotball

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of football - 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.

ffootball1foobtall2footabll2footbal1footbball1footblal2foottball1fotball1
Edit distance from "football"

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 "football"?
"football" is spelled F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈfʊtbɔːl/.
What does "football" mean?
As a noun, "football" means: A sport played on foot in which teams attempt to get a ball into a goal or zone defended by the other team.
What words are commonly confused with "football"?
"football" is commonly confused with "footballer", "fastball". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "football"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "football" is /ˈfʊtbɔːl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "football"?
From Middle English fotbal, footbal, equivalent to foot + ball, because the ball was primarily manipulated with the feet in early versions of the game (though some modern varieties involve more handling than kicking). The name for the briefcase is... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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.

Using “football”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /ˈfʊtbɔːl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “footballer” - see the side-by-side comparison. football vs footballer
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Same frequency band

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list