informer

Name: informer, English Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

noun

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed September 3, 2026

The verdict

“informer” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #29,318. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#29,318
frequency rank, English: 2,140
“I” headwords: 12
tracked misspellings: 3
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One who informs someone else about something.

Corpus desk

Index EN-informer · informer · English

informer · rank #29,318 · 12 variants · 3 confusables

FREQ-MID #29,318
LEN-LONG 8 letters
VOW-3 3 vowels
CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
VAR-MID 12 variants
BOOK-MID 2,140
PHOTO-FINISH incomparable

Nearest frequency peer: incomparable (-1 rank slots)

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.

incarnate

70,685
incomparable

70,684
informer

70,683
infrequent

70,682
infringe

70,681
ingestion

70,680

What this shows “informer” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

informer vs inform

75% similar

informer vs informed

88% similar

informer vs informal

75% similar

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

Key facts for informer
Property	Value
Headword	informer
Language	English
Part of speech	Noun
Letters	8
Frequency rank	#29,318
Misspellings tracked	12
Confusable pairs	3
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “informer”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).informerlands here:

#29,318

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “incomparable” (#29,317), “infrequent” (#29,319), “incarnate” (#29,316). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “informer” is #29,318. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around informer, anoun. Corpus frequency is #29,318 among 2,140 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for informer, with forms such as "ifnormer", "infformer", and "infomrer". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "inform", "informed", "informal", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English enformour, from Anglo-Norman enfourmour; equivalent to inform + -er. The correct English form is informer, spelled I-N-F-O-R-M-E-R.

Definition

1
One who informs someone else about something.
2
A person who tells authorities about improper or illegal activity.
3
One who informs, animates, or inspires.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

Being an informer often meant living in fear.
The police relied on an informer to catch the gang.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English enformour, from Anglo-Norman enfourmour; equivalent to inform + -er.

Synonyms

informant

This word in other languages

informador(Español)informateur(Français)Informant(Deutsch)delator(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

ifnormer
infformer
infomrer
inforemr
informerr
informmer
informre
inforrmer
infromer
innformer
inofrmer
niformer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of informer - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

Edit distance from "informer"

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 "informer"?

"informer" is spelled I-N-F-O-R-M-E-R.

What does "informer" mean?

As a noun, "informer" means: One who informs someone else about something.

What words are commonly confused with "informer"?

"informer" is commonly confused with "inform", "informed", "informal". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.

What is the origin of the word "informer"?

Inherited from Middle English enformour, from Anglo-Norman enfourmour; equivalent to inform + -er. 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "informer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

infringe#29,320 humanism#29,314 Khartoum#29,335 Gingrich#29,293

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

Kalamazoo12 variants layering12 variants genomics12 variants frontage12 variants