addition
/əˈdɪʃ.ən/
"addition" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“addition” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,037. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,037
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of adding anything.
Corpus desk
Index EN-addition · addition · English
addition · rank #1,037 · 10 variants · 9 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,037
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH weight
Nearest frequency peer: weight (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “addition”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- via
via
98,967 corpus weight
- watching
watching
98,966 corpus weight
- weight
weight
98,965 corpus weight
- addition
addition
98,964 corpus weight
- ahead
ahead
98,963 corpus weight
- allow
allow
98,962 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “addition” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | addition |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈdɪʃ.ən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #1,037 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “addition” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around addition (IPA /əˈdɪʃ.ən/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,037 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for addition, with forms such as "addiiton", "addision", and "additino". 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 9 confusable-pair relationships, "adoption", "ambition", "audition", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁tder. Proto-Italic *-ðō Latin -dō Latin addō Latin additiōder. Old French aditionder. Middle English addicioun Englis… The correct English form is addition, spelled A-D-D-I-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of adding anything.
- 2Anything that is added.
- 3The arithmetic operation of adding.
- 4A dot at the right side of a note as an indication that its sound is to be lengthened one half.
- 5A title annexed to a person's name to identify him or her more precisely.
- 6Something added to a coat of arms, as a mark of honour.
- 7an organic reaction where two or more molecules combine to form a larger one (the adduct).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how addition appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The addition of five more items to the agenda will make the meeting unbearably long.
[…]They clip vs drunkards, and with Swiniſh phraſe / Soyle our addition, and indeede it takes / From our atchieuements, though perform’d at height / The pith and marrow of our attribute[…]
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁tder. Proto-Italic *-ðō Latin -dō Latin addō Latin additiōder. Old French aditionder. Middle English addicioun English addition Sense of “what is added” dates from 14th century, from Middle English addicioun, addition, from Old French adition, from Latin additiōnem, accusative singular of additiō, from addō (“add, put”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- addiiton
- addision
- additino
- additionn
- additoin
- addittion
- addtiion
- adidtion
- adition
- dadition
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of addition - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "addition"?
What does "addition" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "addition", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "addition". Here's where to go from here.
- "addition" maps to 9 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "adoption". View pair
- 10 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #1,037 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "A" letter cohort. A–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.