offense
/əˈfɛns/
"offense" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“offense” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,619 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,619
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of offending.
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 | offense |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈfɛns/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #4,619 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “offense” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for offense is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈfɛns/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,619 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for offense, with forms such as "fofense", "ofefnse", and "ofense". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "offers", "offensive", "offend", and more, 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 offence, from Old French offense, from Latin offensa (“a striking against; displeasure; injury”). The correct English form is offense, spelled O-F-F-E-N-S-E.
Definition
- 1The act of offending.
- 2The act of offending.
- 3The state of being offended or displeased; anger; displeasure.
- 4A strategy and tactics employed when in position to score; contrasted with defense.
- 5The portion of a team dedicated to scoring when in position to do so; contrasted with defense.
Etymology
From Middle English offence, from Old French offense, from Latin offensa (“a striking against; displeasure; injury”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: fofense,ofefnse,ofense,offenes,offennse,offensse,offesne,offnese
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of offense - 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.
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
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Using “offense”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-F-F-E-N-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈfɛns/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “offers” - see the side-by-side comparison. offense vs offers
- 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.