confession
/kənˈfɛʃən/noun
confession is spelled C-O-N-F-E-S-S-I-O-N: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, confession means “The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of confession is confessions.
How many letters and syllables are in confession?
| Letters | 10: C-O-N-F-E-S-S-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 7.6 times per million words; the 8,542nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is confession?
Confession appears 7.6 times per million words in written English, the 8,542nd 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 confession?
- /kənˈfɛʃən/
Confession has 3 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-confession.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of confession
- confessions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does confession mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad).
Without the real murderer's confession, an innocent person could be jailed.
- 2
A formal document providing such an admission.
He forced me to sign a confession!
- 3
The disclosure of one's sins to a priest for absolution. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is now also termed the sacrament of reconciliation.
I went to confession and now I feel much better about what I had done.
- 4
Acknowledgment of belief; profession of one's faith.
- 5
A formula in which the articles of faith are comprised; a creed to be assented to or signed, as a preliminary to admission to membership of a church; a confession of faith.
- 6
The act of professing one's love.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Confession in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | confession |
| German | Bekenntnis, Eingeständnis, Geständnis , Beichte |
| Portuguese | confissão |
| Spanish | confesión |
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 confession come from?
From Middle English confessioun, from Old French confession, from Latin cōnfessiō, cōnfessiōnem (“confession, acknowledgment, creed or avowal of one's faith”). Displaced native Old English andetnes. Doublet of confessio. Morphologically confess + -ion. Sense 6 is a calque of 告白 (kokuhaku).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).