acceleration
/əkˌsɛl.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
"acceleration" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“acceleration” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #10,640 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #10,640
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of accelerating, or the state of being accelerated; increase of motion or action; as opposed to retardation or deceleration.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | acceleration |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əkˌsɛl.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #10,640 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “acceleration” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for acceleration is 12 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əkˌsɛl.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,640 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for acceleration, with forms such as "acceelration", "acceleartion", and "acceleraiton". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "accelerator", "accelerating", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *kel-der. Latin celer Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Lat… The correct English form is acceleration, spelled A-C-C-E-L-E-R-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of accelerating, or the state of being accelerated; increase of motion or action; as opposed to retardation or deceleration.
- 2The amount by which a speed or velocity increases (and so a scalar quantity or a vector quantity).
- 3The change of velocity with respect to time (can include deceleration or changing direction).
- 4The advancement of students at a rate that places them ahead of where they would be in the regular school curriculum.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *kel-der. Latin celer Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin celerō Latin accelerō Proto-Indo-European *-tisder. Proto-Italic *-tjō Latin -tiō Latin accelerātiōder. English acceleration First attested in 1531. From French accélération or more likely directly from Latin accelerātiō (“a hastening, acceleration”). Equivalent to accelerate + -ion.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: acceelration,acceleartion,acceleraiton,accelerasion,acceleratino,accelerationn,acceleratoin,accelerattion,accelerration,accelertaion,accelleration,accelreation,accleeration,acecleration,aceleration,caceleration
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of acceleration - 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.
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "acceleration"?
What does "acceleration" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “acceleration”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-C-C-E-L-E-R-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əkˌsɛl.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “accelerator” - see the side-by-side comparison. acceleration vs accelerator
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.