gaffes

\ɡaf\

/\ɡaf\/ noun

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

The verdict

“gaffes” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #40,285. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#40,285
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
11
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pluriel de gaffe.

Corpus desk

Index FR-gaffes · gaffes · French

gaffes · rank #40,285 · 7 variants · 11 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #40,285
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 11 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH fâchent

Nearest frequency peer: fâchent (-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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « gaffes »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « gaffes » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

gaffes vs games
67% similar
gaffes vs gares
67% similar
gaffes vs gages
67% similar

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

Key facts for gaffes
PropertyValue
Headwordgaffes
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡaf\
Letters6
Frequency rank#40,285
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs11
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « gaffes »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).gaffesse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « fâchent » (#40,284), « fusent » (#40,283), « gaullisme » (#40,287). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « gaffes » est au #40,285. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around gaffes (IPA \ɡaf\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #40,285 among 2,617 “G” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Pluriel de gaffe.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for gaffes, with forms such as "agffes", "gafefs", and "gafes". 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, "games", "gares", "gages", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is gaffes, spelled G-A-F-F-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pluriel de gaffe.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Ils les accrochaient à l'aide des gaffes recourbées de crochets et les entassaient au milieu du pont du bateau.
  2. Les gaffes sont dues à la distraction, les gaffes sont dues à la naïveté, les gaffes sont dues aux quiproquos, bien sûr, mais combien de gaffes aussi devons-nous aux erreurs de jugement et combien d’erreurs de jugement à une vanité puérile !

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • agffes
  • gafefs
  • gafes
  • gaffess
  • gaffse
  • gfafes
  • ggaffes

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of gaffes - 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.

agffes2gafefs2gafes1gaffess1gaffse2gfafes2ggaffes1
Edit distance from "gaffes"

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 "gaffes"?
"gaffes" is spelled G-A-F-F-E-S. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡaf\.
What does "gaffes" mean?
As a noun, "gaffes" means: Pluriel de gaffe.
What words are commonly confused with "gaffes"?
"gaffes" is commonly confused with "games", "gares", "gages". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "gaffes"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gaffes" is \ɡaf\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gaffes" come from?
"gaffes" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "gaffes", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

fusent#40,283geisha#40,288Iliade#40,314Imbert#40,315

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

fakir7 variantsHuber7 variantsethno7 variantsKessel7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list