influence
/ˈɪn.flu.əns/
"influence" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“influence” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,725 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,725
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The power to affect, control or manipulate something or someone; the ability to change the development of fluctuating things such as conduct, thoughts or decisions.
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 | influence |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɪn.flu.əns/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #1,725 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “influence” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for influence is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɪn.flu.əns/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,725 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for influence, with forms such as "ifnluence", "inffluence", and "infleunce". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "influenza", "influenced", "influences", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English influence, from Old French influence (“emanation from the stars affecting one's fate”), from Medieval Latin īnfluentia, from Latin īnfluēns (“flowing in”), present active participle of īnfluō (“flow into”), from in- (“in-”) + fluō (“flow… The correct English form is influence, spelled I-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1The power to affect, control or manipulate something or someone; the ability to change the development of fluctuating things such as conduct, thoughts or decisions.
- 2An action exerted by a person or thing with such power on another to cause change.
- 3A person or thing exerting such power or action.
- 4An element believed to determine someone's character or individual tendencies, caused by the position of the stars and planets at the time of one's birth.
- 5The action of flowing in; influx.
- 6Electrostatic induction.
Etymology
From Middle English influence, from Old French influence (“emanation from the stars affecting one's fate”), from Medieval Latin īnfluentia, from Latin īnfluēns (“flowing in”), present active participle of īnfluō (“flow into”), from in- (“in-”) + fluō (“flow”). Doublet of influenza.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ifnluence,inffluence,infleunce,inflluence,influance,influecne,influencce,influenec,influennce,influnece,infulence,inlfuence,innfluence,nifluence
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of influence - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "influence"?
What does "influence" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "influence"?
How do you pronounce "influence"?
What is the origin of the word "influence"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “influence”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɪn.flu.əns/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “influenza” - see the side-by-side comparison. influence vs influenza
- 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.