association
/əˌsəʊʃiˈeɪʃn̩/
"association" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“association” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,041 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,041
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of associating.
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 | association |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˌsəʊʃiˈeɪʃn̩/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #1,041 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “association” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for association is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˌsəʊʃiˈeɪʃn̩/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,041 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. 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 association, with forms such as "asociation", "asosciation", and "asscoiation". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "associative", "associations", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *sokʷéh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ṓy Proto-Indo-European *sokʷh₂ṓy Proto-Ind… The correct English form is association, spelled A-S-S-O-C-I-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of associating.
- 2The state of being associated; a connection to or an affiliation with something.
- 3Any relationship between two measured quantities that renders them statistically dependent (but not necessarily causal or a correlation).
- 4A group of persons associated for a common purpose; an organization; society.
- 5Relationship between classes of objects that allows one object instance to cause another to perform an action on its behalf.
- 6A benevolent overseas Chinese organization of popular origin for overseas Chinese individuals with the same surname, geographical origin, location, trade or business.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *sokʷéh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ṓy Proto-Indo-European *sokʷh₂ṓy Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Indo-European *sokʷyós Proto-Italic *sokjos Latin sokios Latin socius Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin sociō Latin associō Proto-Indo-European *-tisder. Proto-Italic *-tjō Latin -tiō Latin associātiōbor. English association From Latin associātiō, from associō (perhaps via French association). Morphologically associate + -ion. The Philippine sense is a calque of Spanish gremio.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: asociation,asosciation,asscoiation,assocaition,assocciation,associaiton,associasion,associatino,associationn,associatoin,associattion,associtaion,assoication,sasociation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of association - 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 "association"?
What does "association" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "association"?
How do you pronounce "association"?
What is the origin of the word "association"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “association”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-S-S-O-C-I-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˌsəʊʃiˈeɪʃn̩/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “associative” - see the side-by-side comparison. association vs associative
- 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.