autrefois
\o.tʁə.fwa\
The verdict
“autrefois” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #3,660 in French word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #3,660
- frequency rank, French
- 9
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Anciennement ; jadis ; au temps passé.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | autrefois |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | \o.tʁə.fwa\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #3,660 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “autrefois” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for autrefois is 9 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \o.tʁə.fwa\. Corpus data places it at rank #3,660 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Anciennement ; jadis ; au temps passé.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for autrefois, with forms such as "aturefois", "aurtefois", and "auterfois". 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. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is autrefois, spelled A-U-T-R-E-F-O-I-S.
Definition
- 1Anciennement ; jadis ; au temps passé.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aturefois,aurtefois,auterfois,autreffois,autrefios,autrefoiss,autrefosi,autreofis,autrfeois,autrrefois,auttrefois,uatrefois
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of autrefois - 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.
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 "autrefois"?
What does "autrefois" mean?
What are common misspellings of "autrefois"?
How do you pronounce "autrefois"?
What language does "autrefois" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “autrefois”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is A-U-T-R-E-F-O-I-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \o.tʁə.fwa\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.