celebration
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Detailed reference entry for the English word "celebration", 11-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "celebration" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "celebration" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
The verdict
“celebration” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,354 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,354
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 17
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
Dominant Wiktionary sense: The formal performance of a solemn rite, such as Christian sacrament.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | celebration |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌsɛl.ɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #4,354 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “celebration” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for celebration is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌsɛl.ɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,354 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for celebration, with forms such as "ccelebration", "ceelbration", and "celberation". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "celebrating", "calibration", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French celebration, from Latin celebratio. Equivalent to celebrate + -ion. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is celebration, spelled C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The formal performance of a solemn rite, such as Christian sacrament.
- 2The observance of a holiday or feast day, as by solemnities.
- 3The act, process of showing appreciation, gratitude and/or remembrance, notably as a social event.
- 4A social gathering for entertainment and fun; a party.
Etymology
From Old French celebration, from Latin celebratio. Equivalent to celebrate + -ion.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccelebration,ceelbration,celberation,celebartion,celebbration,celebraiton,celebrasion,celebratino,celebrationn,celebratoin,celebrattion,celebrration,celebrtaion,celerbation,cellebration,cleebration,eclebration
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of celebration - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Edit distance from "celebration"
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.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “celebration, English word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/en/word/celebration
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “celebration”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌsɛl.ɪˈbɹeɪ.ʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “celebrating” - see the side-by-side comparison. celebration vs celebrating
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter C in our English index: