gaffe
\ɡaf\
The verdict
“gaffe” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #5,765. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,765
- frequency rank, French
- 2,617
- “G” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Perche munie d’un crochet à une extrémité pour attirer à soi quelque chose.
Corpus desk
Index FR-gaffe · gaffe · French
gaffe · rank #5,765 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #5,765
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,617
- PHOTO-FINISH globalement
Nearest frequency peer: globalement (+1 rank slots)
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 “gaffe”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Franck
Franck
94,239 corpus weight
- Françoise
Françoise
94,238 corpus weight
- gaffe
gaffe
94,236 corpus weight
- globalement
globalement
94,235 corpus weight
- gré
gré
94,234 corpus weight
- hebdomadaire
hebdomadaire
94,233 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “gaffe” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | gaffe |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɡaf\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #5,765 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Où “gaffe” se place dans la fréquence du français
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around gaffe (IPA \ɡaf\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #5,765 among 2,617 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for gaffe, with forms such as "agffe", "gafe", and "gafef". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "gare", "game", "gage", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is gaffe, spelled G-A-F-F-E.
Definition
- 1Perche munie d’un crochet à une extrémité pour attirer à soi quelque chose.
- 2Bêtise.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how gaffe appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Il l’aidait à porter les lignes serrées en spirale, la gaffe, le harpon, ou la voile roulée autour du mât.
Se porter dans le bras ou la main un coup de gaffe à brochet, ce n’était pas si mal, mais un peu trop dangereux.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- agffe
- gafe
- gafef
- gfafe
- ggaffe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of gaffe - 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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "gaffe"?
What does "gaffe" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "gaffe"?
How do you pronounce "gaffe"?
What language does "gaffe" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "gaffe", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "gaffe". Here's where to go from here.
- "gaffe" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "gare". View pair
- 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #5,765 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "G" letter cohort. G–Z browse
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.