wife

\waɪf\

/\waɪf\/ noun

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

The verdict

“wife” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #37,128. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#37,128
frequency rank, French
549
“W” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Femme, épouse.

Corpus desk

Index FR-wife · wife · French

wife · rank #37,128 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #37,128
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 549
  • PHOTO-FINISH Whitaker

Nearest frequency peer: Whitaker (-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 « wife »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « wife » 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).

wife vs WTF
0% similar
wife vs Wii
25% similar
wife vs win
50% similar

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

Key facts for wife
PropertyValue
Headwordwife
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\waɪf\
Letters4
Frequency rank#37,128
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « wife »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.wifese place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Whitaker » (#37,127), « Woodstock » (#37,129), « wali » (#37,126). Parmi 549 lemmes en « W », « wife » est au #37,128. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around wife (IPA \waɪf\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #37,128 among 549 “W” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Femme, épouse.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for wife, with forms such as "iwfe", "wfie", and "wief". 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, "WTF", "Wii", "win", 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 any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is wife, spelled W-I-F-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Femme, épouse.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. His wife had something considerable at present, and something still more to expect hereafter from her mother, her only surviving parent, who had much to give.
  2. I have changed my name so often, I’ve lost my wife and children but I have many friends, and some of them are with me.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • iwfe
  • wfie
  • wief
  • wiffe
  • wwife

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of wife - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

iwfe2wfie2wief2wiffe1wwife1
Edit distance from "wife"

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 "wife"?
"wife" is spelled W-I-F-E. The IPA pronunciation is \waɪf\.
What does "wife" mean?
As a noun, "wife" means: Femme, épouse.
What words are commonly confused with "wife"?
"wife" is commonly confused with "WTF", "Wii", "win". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "wife"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "wife" is \waɪf\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "wife" come from?
"wife" 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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

wali#37,126vile#37,122taro#37,091AQMI#37,174

Similar misspelling depth

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

zorro5 variantsbouh5 variantsburin5 variantscapa5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list