McAfee
"mcafee" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“McAfee” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #32,494 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #32,494
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A surname.
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 | McAfee |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #32,494 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “McAfee” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for McAfee is 6 letters long, classified as a proper noun. Corpus data places it at rank #32,494 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "A surname.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for McAfee, with forms such as "cmafee", "macfee", and "mcaefe". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "McGee", "McKee", "McPhee", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Anglicized form of Irish and Scottish Gaelic Mac Dhuibhshíthe (“son of Dhuibhshít”), a personal name composed of dubh (“black”) + síth (“peace”). The correct English form is McAfee, spelled M-C-A-F-E-E.
Definition
- 1A surname.
Etymology
Anglicized form of Irish and Scottish Gaelic Mac Dhuibhshíthe (“son of Dhuibhshít”), a personal name composed of dubh (“black”) + síth (“peace”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cmafee,macfee,mcaefe,mcafe,mcaffee,mccafee,mcfaee,mmcafee
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of McAfee - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "McAfee"?
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Using “McAfee”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-C-A-F-E-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “McGee” - see the side-by-side comparison. McAfee vs McGee
- 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.