adolescence
/ˌædəˈlɛsəns/
"adolescence" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“adolescence” has 17 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #18,003. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #18,003
- frequency rank, English
- 35,202
- “A” headwords
- 17
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The transitional period of physical and psychological development between childhood and maturity, beginning at the onset of puberty and with an endpoint defined either legally (at the age of majori...
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 | adolescence |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌædəˈlɛsəns/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #18,003 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “adolescence” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 17 spelling variants around adolescence (IPA /ˌædəˈlɛsəns/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #18,003 among 35,202 “A” headwords. Dominant gloss: "The transitional period of physical and psychological development between childhood and maturity, beginning at the onset of puberty and with an endpoint defined either legally (at the age of majori...".
Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for adolescence, with forms such as "addolescence", "adloescence", and "adoelscence". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "adolescent", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English adolescence, from Old French adolescence, from Latin adolēscentia, from adolēscēns (“young”); see adolescent. The correct English form is adolescence, spelled A-D-O-L-E-S-C-E-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1The transitional period of physical and psychological development between childhood and maturity, beginning at the onset of puberty and with an endpoint defined either legally (at the age of majority, such as 18 in many jurisdictions) or psychocognitively (at various ages, depending on individual experience).
Etymology
From Middle English adolescence, from Old French adolescence, from Latin adolēscentia, from adolēscēns (“young”); see adolescent.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: addolescence,adloescence,adoelscence,adolecsence,adolescance,adolesccence,adolescecne,adolescencce,adolescenec,adolescennce,adolescnece,adolesecnce,adolesscence,adollescence,adolsecence,aodlescence,daolescence
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of adolescence - 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 "adolescence"?
What does "adolescence" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "adolescence"?
How do you pronounce "adolescence"?
What is the origin of the word "adolescence"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “adolescence”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-D-O-L-E-S-C-E-N-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌædəˈlɛsəns/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “adolescent” - see the side-by-side comparison. adolescence vs adolescent
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.