ambition
/æmˈbɪʃ.ən/
"ambition" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ambition” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #8,116. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #8,116
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ambition · ambition · English
ambition · rank #8,116 · 12 variants · 3 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #8,116
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 3 pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH amazed
Nearest frequency peer: amazed (-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 “ambition”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- albeit
albeit
91,888 corpus weight
- alcoholic
alcoholic
91,887 corpus weight
- amazed
amazed
91,886 corpus weight
- ambition
ambition
91,885 corpus weight
- ammunition
ammunition
91,884 corpus weight
- anthem
anthem
91,883 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “ambition” 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 | ambition |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #8,116 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ambition” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around ambition (IPA /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #8,116 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for ambition, with forms such as "abmition", "ambbition", and "ambiiton". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "audition", "ambitious", "addition", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts? Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰider. Proto-Italic *amβi Latin ambi- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- Proto-Indo-European *h₁éyti Proto-Italic *ejō Proto-Italic *eō Latin e… The correct English form is ambition, spelled A-M-B-I-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people.
- 2An object of an ardent desire.
- 3A desire, as in (sense 1), for another person to achieve these things.
- 4A personal quality similar to motivation, not necessarily tied to a single goal.
- 5The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire; canvassing.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ambition appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
My daughter, Johanna, wants to be a firefighter very much. She has a lot of ambition.
The third part of practice hath divers branches, but one principal root in these our times, which is the vast and overspreading ambition and usurpation of the see of Rome; […]
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂énts? Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰider. Proto-Italic *amβi Latin ambi- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- Proto-Indo-European *h₁éyti Proto-Italic *ejō Proto-Italic *eō Latin eō Latin ambiō Proto-Indo-European *-tisder. Proto-Italic *-tjō Latin -tiō Latin ambitiōder. Old French ambitionbor. Middle English ambicioun English ambition From Middle English ambicioun, from Old French ambition, from Latin ambitiō (“ambition, a striving for favor, literally 'a going around', especially of candidates for office in Rome soliciting votes”), from ambiō (“I go around, solicit votes”). See ambient, issue.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- abmition
- ambbition
- ambiiton
- ambision
- ambitino
- ambitionn
- ambitoin
- ambittion
- ambtiion
- amibtion
- ammbition
- mabition
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ambition - 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 "ambition"?
What does "ambition" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "ambition"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ambition", 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 (12 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "ambition". Here's where to go from here.
- "ambition" maps to 3 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "audition". View pair
- 12 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #8,116 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.