operational

[opəʁat͡si̯oˈnaːl]

/[opəʁat͡si̯oˈnaːl]/ adj

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

The verdict

“operational” is uncommon German (frequency #96,039 among 14,908 “O” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#96,039
frequency rank, German
14,908
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - auf Operationen (Handlungen) beruhend, mit Hilfe von Operationen (Handlungen)

Key facts for operational
PropertyValue
Headwordoperational
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[opəʁat͡si̯oˈnaːl]
Letters11
Frequency rank#96,039
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “operational” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). operational lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

operational is uncommon German at frequency #96,039 among 14,908 “O” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [opəʁat͡si̯oˈnaːl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for operational, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is operational, spelled O-P-E-R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    auf Operationen (Handlungen) beruhend, mit Hilfe von Operationen (Handlungen)
  2. 2
    „konkret beschrieben, messbar, und damit umsetzbar“

Antonyms

intuitiv

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 "operational"?
"operational" is spelled O-P-E-R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is [opəʁat͡si̯oˈnaːl].
What does "operational" mean?
As an adjective, "operational" means: auf Operationen (Handlungen) beruhend, mit Hilfe von Operationen (Handlungen)
How do you pronounce "operational"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "operational" is [opəʁat͡si̯oˈnaːl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "operational" come from?
"operational" 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.

Using “operational”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is O-P-E-R-A-T-I-O-N-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [opəʁat͡si̯oˈnaːl] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words

Other uncommon German words near this rank

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list