office

/ˈɒf.ɪs/

//ˈɒf.ɪs// noun

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

"office" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“office” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #389. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#389
frequency rank, English
1,431
“O” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
7
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A ceremonial duty or service, particularly

Corpus desk

Index EN-office · office · English

office · rank #389 · 6 variants · 7 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #389
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 7 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,431
  • PHOTO-FINISH hours

Nearest frequency peer: hours (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “office”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “office” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

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).

office vs offing
67% similar
office vs officer
86% similar
office vs offices
86% similar

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

Key facts for office
PropertyValue
Headwordoffice
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɒf.ɪs/
Letters6
Frequency rank#389
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs7
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “office” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). office lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around office (IPA /ˈɒf.ɪs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #389 among 1,431 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 32 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for office, with forms such as "fofice", "offcie", and "officce". 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 7 confusable-pair relationships, "offing", "officer", "offices", 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 office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from o… The correct English form is office, spelled O-F-F-I-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    A ceremonial duty or service, particularly
  2. 2
    A ceremonial duty or service
  3. 3
    A ceremonial duty or service
  4. 4
    A ceremonial duty or service
  5. 5
    A ceremonial duty or service
  6. 6
    A ceremonial duty or service
  7. 7
    A ceremonial duty or service
  8. 8
    A ceremonial duty or service
  9. 9
    A position of responsibility.
  10. 10
    Official position, particularly high employment within government; tenure in such a position.
  11. 11
    A duty, particularly owing to one's position or station; a charge, trust, or role; (obsolete, rare) moral duty.
  12. 12
    Function: anything typically done by or expected of something.
  13. 13
    A service, a kindness.
  14. 14
    Inside information.
  15. 15
    A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work, particularly
  16. 16
    A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work
  17. 17
    A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work
  18. 18
    A room, set of rooms, or building used for non-manual work
  19. 19
    The staff of such places.
  20. 20
    The administrative departments housed in such places, particularly
  21. 21
    The administrative departments housed in such places
  22. 22
    The administrative departments housed in such places
  23. 23
    The administrative departments housed in such places
  24. 24
    The parts of a house or estate devoted to manual work and storage, as the kitchen, scullery, laundry, stables, etc., particularly (euphemistic, dated) a house or estate's facilities for urination and defecation: outhouses or lavatories.
  25. 25
    Clipping of inquest of office
  26. 26
    A piece of land used for hunting; the area of land overseen by a gamekeeper.
  27. 27
    A hangout: a place where one is normally found.
  28. 28
    A plane's cockpit, particularly an observer's cockpit.
  29. 29
    A collection of business software typically including a word processor and spreadsheet and slideshow programs.
  30. 30
    An official or group of officials; (figuratively) a personification of officeholders.
  31. 31
    A bodily function, (particularly) urination and defecation; an act of urination or defecation.
  32. 32
    The performance of a duty; an instance of performing a duty.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Golde (gaue he him)[…]for all maner of veſſels of euery offyce[…]
  2. In the Latin rite, all bishops, priests, and transitional deacons are obliged to recite the Divine Office daily.

Etymology

From Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from opifex (“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium (“-y”, forming actions), from op- (“work”) + -i- (connective) + -fex (combining form of faciō (“to do, to make”)). The computing sense is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.

Synonyms

servicedivine servicereligious serviceliturgyDivine OfficebreviaryLiturgy of the Hoursliturgy of the hourscanonical hoursworkplaceworksteadpracticedoctor's officedepartmentministrybureaubathroomoffice

This word in other languages

oficio(Español)office(Français)Dienst(Deutsch)escritório(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • fofice
  • offcie
  • officce
  • offiec
  • ofice
  • ofifce

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

fofice2offcie2officce1offiec2ofice1ofifce2
Edit distance from "office"

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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "office"?
"office" is spelled O-F-F-I-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɒf.ɪs/.
What does "office" mean?
As a noun, "office" means: A ceremonial duty or service, particularly
What words are commonly confused with "office"?
"office" is commonly confused with "offing", "officer", "offices". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "office"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "office" is /ˈɒf.ɪs/. 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 "office"?
From Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built... 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 "office", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

almost#395coming#383become#381single#380

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

hours6 variantswe're6 variantsfuck6 variantsmind6 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "office". Here's where to go from here.

  • "office" maps to 7 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "offing". View pair
  • 6 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #389 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "O" letter cohort. O–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list