compassion
/kəmˈpæʃ.ən/
"compassion" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“compassion” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,664 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,664
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states.
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 | compassion |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #7,664 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “compassion” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for compassion is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,664 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 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 compassion, with forms such as "ccompassion", "cmopassion", and "comapssion". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "compulsion", "compression", "companion", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English compassioun, compassion, from Old French compassion, from Ecclesiastical Latin compassio (“sympathy”), from Latin compati, past participle compassus (“to suffer together with”), from com- (“together”) + pati (“to suffer”); see passion. The correct English form is compassion, spelled C-O-M-P-A-S-S-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states.
- 2Deep awareness of the individual experiences of suffering of others or themselves that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such experiences, as reflected by the psychological term self-compassion.
Etymology
From Middle English compassioun, compassion, from Old French compassion, from Ecclesiastical Latin compassio (“sympathy”), from Latin compati, past participle compassus (“to suffer together with”), from com- (“together”) + pati (“to suffer”); see passion.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccompassion,cmopassion,comapssion,commpassion,compasion,compasison,compassino,compassionn,compassoin,compastion,comppassion,compsasion,copmassion,ocmpassion
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of compassion - 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 "compassion"?
What does "compassion" mean?
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Using “compassion”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-M-P-A-S-S-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “compulsion” - see the side-by-side comparison. compassion vs compulsion
- 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.