affaire

\a.fɛʁ\

/\a.fɛʁ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“affaire” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #526 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#526
frequency rank, French
7
letters
7
tracked misspellings
11
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Chose dont on doit s’occuper à faire.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

affaire vs affamé
57% similar
affaire vs affine
71% similar
affaire vs affilé
57% similar

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

Key facts for affaire
PropertyValue
Headwordaffaire
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\a.fɛʁ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#526
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs11
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “affaire” sits in French 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). affaire lands here:

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

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

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for affaire is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \a.fɛʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #526 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for affaire, with forms such as "afafire", "afaire", and "affaier". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "affamé", "affine", "affilé", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is affaire, spelled A-F-F-A-I-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Chose dont on doit s’occuper à faire.
  2. 2
    Ce qui est le sujet de quelque occupation.
  3. 3
    Ce qui est sujet de quelques préoccupations.
  4. 4
    Engagement au front ; combat.
  5. 5
    Toute chose dont on a à discuter, à démêler avec quelqu’un dans le commerce de la vie.
  6. 6
    Convention ; marché ; traité ; transaction commerciale ; entreprise d’industrie ; spéculation financière.
  7. 7
    Cas traité par la justice.
  8. 8
    Est aussi un terme général que l’on substitue souvent dans le langage ordinaire à des termes propres et particuliers. Il s’emploie ainsi dans des significations très diverses et quelquefois dans des sens opposés qu’il est impossible d’indiquer tous.
  9. 9
    Effets personnels.
  10. 10
    Objet que l’on a du mal à définir ou à nommer ; patente, machin.
  11. 11
    Une certaine quantité.

Synonyms

tâche

This word in other languages

affair(English)asunto(Español)Sache(Deutsch)responsabilidade(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: afafire,afaire,affaier,affairre,affarie,affiare,fafaire

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of affaire - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

afafire2afaire1affaier2affairre1affarie2affiare2fafaire2
Edit distance from "affaire"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "affaire"?
"affaire" is spelled A-F-F-A-I-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \a.fɛʁ\.
What does "affaire" mean?
As a noun, "affaire" means: Chose dont on doit s’occuper à faire.
What words are commonly confused with "affaire"?
"affaire" is commonly confused with "affamé", "affine", "affilé". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "affaire"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "affaire" is \a.fɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "affaire" come from?
"affaire" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Using “affaire”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is A-F-F-A-I-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \a.fɛʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “affamé” - see the side-by-side comparison. affaire vs affamé
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list