ability

[əˈbɪl.ə.ti]

/[əˈbɪl.ə.ti]/ noun

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

The verdict

“ability” is uncommon German (frequency #91,238 among 6,976 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#91,238
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fähigkeit, Befähigung, Können, Leistungsfähigkeit, Handfertigkeit

Corpus desk

Index DE-ability · ability · German

ability · rank #91,238 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #91,238
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH Abidjan

Nearest frequency peer: Abidjan (-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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „ability“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „ability“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ability
PropertyValue
Headwordability
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[əˈbɪl.ə.ti]
Letters7
Frequency rank#91,238
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „ability“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).abilityfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Abidjan“ (#91,237), „abkoppeln“ (#91,239), „abgepumpt“ (#91,236). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „ability“ bei #91,238. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ability is uncommon German at frequency #91,238 among 6,976 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [əˈbɪl.ə.ti]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for ability, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

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 German form is ability, spelled A-B-I-L-I-T-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Fähigkeit, Befähigung, Können, Leistungsfähigkeit, Handfertigkeit
  2. 2
    geistige Anlagen

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. All of the kids have the ability to do their homework.

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 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ability"?
"ability" is spelled A-B-I-L-I-T-Y. The IPA pronunciation is [əˈbɪl.ə.ti].
What does "ability" mean?
As a noun, "ability" means: Fähigkeit, Befähigung, Können, Leistungsfähigkeit, Handfertigkeit
How do you pronounce "ability"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ability" is [əˈbɪl.ə.ti]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ability" come from?
"ability" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 German words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Abidjan#91,237Abteien#91,240Affekte#91,247Ahlbeck#91,250

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list