connotation
con·no·ta·tion/ˌkɑnəˈteɪʃən/noun
connotation is spelled C-O-N-N-O-T-A-T-I-O-N, 4 syllables: con·no·ta·tion. The wrong spelling people search most is cannotation: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 238 of all searches for the word. Connotation is a noun meaning “A meaning of a word or phrase that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal meaning. A…”. The plural of connotation is connotations.
How many letters and syllables are in connotation?
| Letters | 11: C-O-N-N-O-T-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: con·no·ta·tion |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 31,168th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, cannotation, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 connotation?
Connotation is spelled C-O-N-N-O-T-A-T-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 236 of the searches for connotation 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 connotation?
Connotation appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,168th 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 connotation?
- UK /ˌkɒnəˈteɪʃən/
- US /ˌkɑnəˈteɪʃən/
- Canada /ˌkɒnəˈteɪʃən/
Connotation has 4 syllables, split con·no·ta·tion in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-connotation.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with connotation
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with connotation?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as connotation 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 connotation
- connotations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does connotation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A meaning of a word or phrase that is suggested or implied, as opposed to a denotation, or literal meaning. A characteristic of words or phrases, or of the contexts that words and phrases are used in.
The word "advisedly" has a connotation of "wisely", although it denotes merely "intentionally" and "deliberately."
- 2
The attribute or aggregate of attributes connoted by a term, contrasted with denotation.
The two expressions "the morning star" and "the evening star" have different connotations but the same denotation (i.e. the planet Venus).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Connotation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense suggested or implied meaning:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | connotation |
| German | Konnotation, Nebenbedeutung, Beiklang, Beigeschmack |
| Portuguese | conotação |
| Spanish | connotación |
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 connotation come from?
Borrowed from Medieval Latin connotātiō, from connotō (“to mark in addition”), from Latin con- (“together, with”) + notō (“to note”); equivalent to connote + -ation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What to look up after connotation
- connotation or denotation? the difference
- situation rhymes with connotation
- association rhymes with connotation
- connoisseurship the entry before
- connotative the entry after
- English words starting with C the most written first
- The most misspelled English words
- Count the syllables of any word
- Check the spelling of a text