gaffe
\ɡaf\
The verdict
“gaffe” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #5,765 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,765
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Perche munie d’un crochet à une extrémité pour attirer à soi quelque chose.
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) |
Where “gaffe” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for gaffe is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɡaf\. Corpus data places it at rank #5,765 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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.
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
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Using “gaffe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is G-A-F-F-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɡaf\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “gare” - see the side-by-side comparison. gaffe vs gare
- 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.