contortion

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"contortion" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“contortion” is uncommon English (frequency #93,571 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#93,571
frequency rank, English
43,570
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of contorting, twisting or deforming something, especially oneself.

Key facts for contortion
PropertyValue
Headwordcontortion
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Frequency rank#93,571
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “contortion” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). contortion lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

contortion is uncommon English at frequency #93,571 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

contortion doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French contortion. The correct English form is contortion, spelled C-O-N-T-O-R-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of contorting, twisting or deforming something, especially oneself.
  2. 2
    A form of acrobatic display which involves the dramatic bending and flexing of the human body.

Etymology

From Middle French contortion.

This word in other languages

contorsión(Español)contorsion(Français)contorção(Português)

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 "contortion"?
"contortion" is spelled C-O-N-T-O-R-T-I-O-N.
What does "contortion" mean?
As a noun, "contortion" means: The act of contorting, twisting or deforming something, especially oneself.
What is the origin of the word "contortion"?
From Middle French contortion. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “contortion”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-T-O-R-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list