alienation
/ˌeɪli.əˈneɪʃən/
"alienation" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“alienation” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #23,451 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #23,451
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of alienating.
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 | alienation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌeɪli.əˈneɪʃən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #23,451 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “alienation” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for alienation is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌeɪli.əˈneɪʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #23,451 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 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 alienation, with forms such as "ailenation", "aleination", and "alieantion". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "allegation", "alteration", "alienating", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English alienacioun, borrowed from Old French alienacion, itself borrowed from Latin aliēnātiōnem. The correct English form is alienation, spelled A-L-I-E-N-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of alienating.
- 2The state of being alienated.
- 3Emotional isolation or dissociation.
- 4Verfremdungseffekt.
- 5The transfer of property to another person.
- 6The estrangement of people from aspects of their human nature as a consequence of the division of labour and living in a society of stratified social classes.
Etymology
From Middle English alienacioun, borrowed from Old French alienacion, itself borrowed from Latin aliēnātiōnem.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ailenation,aleination,alieantion,alienaiton,alienasion,alienatino,alienationn,alienatoin,alienattion,aliennation,alientaion,alineation,allienation,laienation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of alienation - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "alienation"?
What does "alienation" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "alienation"?
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Using “alienation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-L-I-E-N-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌeɪli.əˈneɪʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “allegation” - see the side-by-side comparison. alienation vs allegation
- 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.