congestion
/kənˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃən/
"congestion" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“congestion” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,854 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,854
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The hindrance or blockage of the passage of something, for example a fluid, mixture, traffic, people, etc. (due to an excess of this or due to a partial or complete obstruction), resulting in overf...
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 | congestion |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kənˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #11,854 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “congestion” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for congestion is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kənˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,854 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for congestion, with forms such as "ccongestion", "cnogestion", and "cognestion". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "connection", "convention", "contention", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From late Middle English congestioun, from Old French [Term?], from Latin congestĭō (“heap, accumulation”), from congerō (“to bring together, accumulate, heap up”), formed by the root gerō (“to carry”) and the prefix con-. The correct English form is congestion, spelled C-O-N-G-E-S-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The hindrance or blockage of the passage of something, for example a fluid, mixture, traffic, people, etc. (due to an excess of this or due to a partial or complete obstruction), resulting in overfilling or overcrowding.
- 2The hindrance or blockage of the passage of something, for example a fluid, mixture, traffic, people, etc. (due to an excess of this or due to a partial or complete obstruction), resulting in overfilling or overcrowding.
- 3An excess or accumulation of something.
- 4An excess or accumulation of something.
- 5An excess or accumulation of something.
Etymology
From late Middle English congestioun, from Old French [Term?], from Latin congestĭō (“heap, accumulation”), from congerō (“to bring together, accumulate, heap up”), formed by the root gerō (“to carry”) and the prefix con-.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccongestion,cnogestion,cognestion,conegstion,congesiton,congession,congesstion,congestino,congestionn,congestoin,congesttion,congetsion,conggestion,congsetion,conngestion,ocngestion
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of congestion - 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 "congestion"?
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Using “congestion”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-G-E-S-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kənˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “connection” - see the side-by-side comparison. congestion vs connection
- 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.