compensation
/ˌkɑm.pənˈseɪ.ʃən/noun
compensation is spelled C-O-M-P-E-N-S-A-T-I-O-N. The wrong spelling people search most is compensantion: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 667 of all searches for the word. Compensation is a noun meaning “The act or principle of compensating”. The plural of compensation is compensations.
How many letters and syllables are in compensation?
| Letters | 12: C-O-M-P-E-N-S-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 21 times per million words; the 4,076th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, compensantion, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell compensation?
Compensation is spelled C-O-M-P-E-N-S-A-T-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 689 of the searches for compensation in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is compensation?
Compensation appears 21 times per million words in written English, the 4,076th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce compensation?
- UK /ˌkɒm.pənˈseɪ.ʃən/
- UK /ˌkɒm.pɛnˈseɪ.ʃən/
- US /ˌkɑm.pənˈseɪ.ʃən/
Compensation has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-compensation.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with compensation?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as compensation from its last stressed vowel (/eɪʃən/):
- situation
- association
- population
- administration
- operation
- organization
- application
- location
- generation
- foundation
- conversation
- investigation
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of compensation
- compensations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does compensation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act or principle of compensating.
- 2
Something which is regarded as an equivalent; something which compensates for loss.
- 3
The extinction of debts of which two persons are reciprocally debtors by the credits of which they are reciprocally creditors; the payment of a debt by a credit of equal amount.
- 4
A recompense or reward for service.
- 5
An equivalent stipulated for in contracts for the sale of real estate, in which it is customary to provide that errors in description, etc., shall not avoid, but shall be the subject of compensation.
- 6
The relationship between air temperature outside a building and a calculated target temperature for provision of air or water to contained rooms or spaces for the purpose of efficient heating. In building control systems, the compensation curve is defined to a compensator for this purpose.
- 7
The ability of one part of the brain to overfunction in order to take over the function of a damaged part (e.g. following a stroke).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate compensation?
Wiktionary records 3 abbreviations of compensation: Comp., comp, compo.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Compensation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | compensation , dédommagement, émolument, indemnisation |
| German | Abfindung, Kompensation , Ausgleich, Ersatz , Aufrechnung |
| Portuguese | compensação |
| Spanish | contrapartida |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does compensation come from?
From Middle English compensacioun, from Old French compensacion, from Latin compensātiōnem, accusative singular of compensātiō. Equivalent to compensate + -ion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).