contention
/kənˈtɛnʃən/
"contention" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“contention” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #10,671 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #10,671
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 16
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Argument, contest, debate, strife, struggle.
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 | contention |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kənˈtɛnʃən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #10,671 |
| Misspellings tracked | 16 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “contention” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for contention is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kənˈtɛnʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #10,671 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 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 contention, with forms such as "ccontention", "cnotention", and "conetntion". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "convention", "convection", "contrition", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English contencion, borrowed from Old French contencion, from Latin contentio, contentionem, from contendō (past participle contentus); equivalent to contend + -tion (similar formation to attention). The correct English form is contention, spelled C-O-N-T-E-N-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Argument, contest, debate, strife, struggle.
- 2A point maintained in an argument, or a line of argument taken in its support; the subject matter of discussion of strife; a position taken or contended for.
- 3Competition by parts of a system or its users for a limited resource.
Etymology
From Middle English contencion, borrowed from Old French contencion, from Latin contentio, contentionem, from contendō (past participle contentus); equivalent to contend + -tion (similar formation to attention).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccontention,cnotention,conetntion,conntention,conteniton,contenntion,contension,contentino,contentionn,contentoin,contenttion,contetnion,contnetion,conttention,cotnention,ocntention
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of contention - 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 "contention"?
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Using “contention”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-T-E-N-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kənˈtɛnʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “convention” - see the side-by-side comparison. contention vs convention
- 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.