instance

/ˈɪnstəns/

//ˈɪnstəns// noun

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

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

The verdict

“instance” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,540. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,540
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Urgency of manner or words; an urgent request; insistence.

Corpus desk

Index EN-instance · instance · English

instance · rank #2,540 · 13 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,540
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH gender

Nearest frequency peer: gender (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “instance”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

instance vs instant
75% similar
instance vs instinct
75% similar
instance vs issuance
75% similar

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

Key facts for instance
PropertyValue
Headwordinstance
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɪnstəns/
Letters8
Frequency rank#2,540
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “instance”

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).instancelands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “gender” (#2,539), “Kim” (#2,541), “fucked” (#2,538). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “instance” is #2,540. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around instance (IPA /ˈɪnstəns/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,540 among 2,140 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 11 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for instance, with forms such as "innstance", "insatnce", and "insstance". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "instant", "instinct", "issuance", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Middle French instance, from Latin īnstantia (“a being near, presence, also perseverance, earnestness, importunity, urgency”), from īnstāns (“urgent”); see instant. The correct English form is instance, spelled I-N-S-T-A-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Urgency of manner or words; an urgent request; insistence.
  2. 2
    A token; a sign; a symptom or indication.
  3. 3
    That which is urgent; motive.
  4. 4
    A piece of evidence; a proof or sign (of something).
  5. 5
    An occasion; an order of occurrence.
  6. 6
    A case offered as an exemplification or a precedent; an illustrative example.
  7. 7
    One of a series of recurring occasions, cases, essentially the same.
  8. 8
    A specific occurrence of something that is created or instantiated, such as a database, or an object of a class in object-oriented programming.
  9. 9
    A dungeon or other area that is duplicated for each player, or each party of players, that enters it, so that each player or party has a private copy of the area, isolated from other players.
  10. 10
    An individual copy of such a dungeon or other area.
  11. 11
    An independent server on a decentralised social network, such as Mastodon.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I know one very well alied, to whom, at the instance of a brother of his[…], I spake to that purpose[…].
  2. […]undertook at her instance to restore them.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French instance, from Latin īnstantia (“a being near, presence, also perseverance, earnestness, importunity, urgency”), from īnstāns (“urgent”); see instant.

Antonyms

noninstance

This word in other languages

instancia(Español)instance(Français)Beispiel(Deutsch)exemplo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • innstance
  • insatnce
  • insstance
  • instacne
  • instancce
  • instanec
  • instannce
  • instence
  • instnace
  • insttance
  • intsance
  • isntance
  • nistance

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

innstance1insatnce2insstance1instacne2instancce1instanec2instannce1instence1
Edit distance from "instance"

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 "instance"?
"instance" is spelled I-N-S-T-A-N-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɪnstəns/.
What does "instance" mean?
As a noun, "instance" means: Urgency of manner or words; an urgent request; insistence.
What words are commonly confused with "instance"?
"instance" is commonly confused with "instant", "instinct", "issuance". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "instance"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "instance" is /ˈɪnstəns/. 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 "instance"?
Borrowed from Middle French instance, from Latin īnstantia (“a being near, presence, also perseverance, earnestness, importunity, urgency”), from īnstāns (“urgent”); see instant. 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 "instance", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

realized#2,550delivery#2,528register#2,553concerns#2,522

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

explained13 variantsreceiving13 variantsdedicated13 variantssentence13 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list