acceptance
/əkˈsɛp.təns/
"acceptance" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“acceptance” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,469 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,469
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of accepting; the receiving of something offered, with acquiescence, approbation, or satisfaction; especially, favourable reception; approval.
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 | acceptance |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əkˈsɛp.təns/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #5,469 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “acceptance” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for acceptance is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əkˈsɛp.təns/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,469 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for acceptance, with forms such as "accepatnce", "accepptance", and "acceptacne". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "acceptable", 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 *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Italic *kapjō Old Latin kapiō Latin capiō Latin accipiō Latin acceptārelbor. Old Fr… The correct English form is acceptance, spelled A-C-C-E-P-T-A-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1The act of accepting; the receiving of something offered, with acquiescence, approbation, or satisfaction; especially, favourable reception; approval.
- 2An instance of that act.
- 3Belief in something; agreement, assent.
- 4The state of being accepted.
- 5The usual or accepted meaning of a word or expression.
- 6An assent and engagement by the person on whom a bill of exchange is drawn, to pay it when due according to the terms of the acceptance; the bill of exchange itself when accepted.
- 7An agreeing to the action, proposals, or terms of another by some act which results in the conclusion of a legally binding contract; the reception or taking of a thing bought as that for which it was bought, or as that agreed to be delivered, or the taking of possession of a thing as owner.
- 8The act of an authorized representative of the government by which the government assents to ownership of existing and identified supplies, or approves specific services rendered, as partial or complete performance of a contract.
- 9A list of horses accepted as starters in a race.
- 10Synonym of etendue.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Italic *kapjō Old Latin kapiō Latin capiō Latin accipiō Latin acceptārelbor. Old French accepterder. Middle French acceptanceder. English acceptance * First attested in 1574. From Middle French acceptance, from Old French accepter (“accept”). Equivalent to accept + -ance.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: accepatnce,accepptance,acceptacne,acceptancce,acceptanec,acceptannce,acceptence,acceptnace,accepttance,accetpance,accpetance,acecptance,aceptance,caceptance
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of acceptance - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “acceptance”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-C-C-E-P-T-A-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əkˈsɛp.təns/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “acceptable” - see the side-by-side comparison. acceptance vs acceptable
- 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.