colonisation
"colonisation" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“colonisation” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #40,622 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #40,622
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
- 18
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Alternative spelling of colonization.
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 | colonisation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #40,622 |
| Misspellings tracked | 18 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “colonisation” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for colonisation is 12 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #40,622 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Alternative spelling of colonization.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 18 likely wrong-spelling variants for colonisation, with forms such as "ccolonisation", "cloonisation", and "collonisation". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "colonization", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is colonisation, spelled C-O-L-O-N-I-S-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Alternative spelling of colonization.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccolonisation,cloonisation,collonisation,colnoisation,coloinsation,coloniastion,colonisaiton,colonisasion,colonisatino,colonisationn,colonisatoin,colonisattion,colonissation,colonistaion,colonnisation,colonsiation,coolnisation,oclonisation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of colonisation - 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 "colonisation"?
What does "colonisation" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "colonisation"?
What language does "colonisation" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “colonisation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-L-O-N-I-S-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “colonization” - see the side-by-side comparison. colonisation vs colonization
- 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.