Affinity and Infinity sound alike but have different meanings.
Affinity means “connection,” “attraction,” or “kinship.”
Infinity means “without end.”
Although affinity has several meanings, they all revolve around the idea of “kinship,” which is closest to the word’s original meaning. The most common usage expresses “liking”:
She felt an affinity for other immigrants because they shared her experiences.
She had an affinity for chocolate cake.
More abstractly, it can be used to describe the force of attraction:
Chemicals which have an affinity for each other may combine very quickly.
And it can be used even more abstractly to describe any relationship or connection that emphasizes similarity or resemblance:
In my dissertation, I described an affinity between certain ancient poets and revolutionaries from different cultures. (meaning that they share characteristics, not that they were literally connected)
Affinity is an extremely useful and fairly common word.
Infinity (literally “not ending”) is also a commonly used word and perhaps indispensable, as it has no true synonyms in English, except perhaps endless. All the other words for infinity describe infinite time (endless, eternal, perpetual, etc.) but infinity means endless anything:
Georg Cantor proved, surprisingly, that some infinities are larger than others.
Although physicists talk about infinity, space and time probably do not go on forever.
You will probably use this word more in the adjective form, infinite, more than infinity:
There are infinite ways to be happy.
More Examples of Using "Affinity" in a Sentence
Here is an additional list of examples that illustrate how the word affinity can be used in a sentence:
- She had an affinity for children and was always kind to them.
- He developed an affinity for what he calls “modern art” in his later years.
- I developed an affinity for the topic after years of research on the subject.
- He and I have an affinity for one another.
- There is an affinity between science and technology.
- She has an affinity for the color yellow.
- He couldn't say he had much in common with the other students in the program, but their shared affinity for writing helped them bond quickly.
- I have a strong affinity for music.
Using "Infinity" in a Sentence
Here is another list of sentence examples—this time for the word infinity:
- The concept of infinity is not intuitive to grasp. You can't put an infinite number of things in a finite amount of space.
- We know that two lines with ends will always intersect at some point, but we can never find where infinity begins or ends because it has no boundaries.
- An object can be considered as infinite if its boundaries are not defined or if it exists in every direction infinitely.
Note: Infinity and Infinite are used very frequently to exagerate a point (i.e., hyperbole).
4. The company has taken an infinite number of steps toward improving its public image in this country.
5. The infinite number of stars in the sky makes me feel insignificant.
6. The sun is shining and the sky is wide open, as if infinity stretched endlessly above us.
7. There was an infinity of possibilities for them ahead of them and they were going to explore every single one of them together.
8. I could stare at her for infinity and never get bored.
9. She has an Infinity Scarf that she bought from the store.
10. The Avengers tried but failed to prevent Thanos from obtaining the Infinity Gems.