conversation
/ˌkɑn.vəɹˈseɪ.ʃən/noun, verb
conversation is spelled C-O-N-V-E-R-S-A-T-I-O-N. The wrong spelling people search most is coversation: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 96 of all searches for the word. Conversation is a noun meaning “Expression and exchange of individual ideas through talking with other people; also, a set instance or…”. The plural of conversation is conversations.
How many letters and syllables are in conversation?
| Letters | 12: C-O-N-V-E-R-S-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 56 times per million words; the 1,822nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, coversation, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); 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 conversation?
Conversation is spelled C-O-N-V-E-R-S-A-T-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 97 of the searches for conversation 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 conversation?
Conversation appears 56 times per million words in written English, the 1,822nd 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 conversation?
- UK /ˌkɒn.vəˈseɪ.ʃn̩/
- UK [ˌkʰɒɱ.vəˈseɪ.ʃn̩]
- US /ˌkɑn.vəɹˈseɪ.ʃən/
Conversation has 4 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-conversation.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with conversation?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as conversation from its last stressed vowel (/eɪʃən/):
- situation
- association
- population
- administration
- operation
- organization
- application
- location
- generation
- foundation
- investigation
- communication
Spelled with the same letters in another order: conservation.
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 conversation
- conversations plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- conversationing participle, present
- conversationed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does conversation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Expression and exchange of individual ideas through talking with other people; also, a set instance or occasion of such talking.
I had an interesting conversation with Nicolas yesterday about how much he's getting paid.
- 2
Dialogue or interaction regarding a topic.
- 3
The back-and-forth play of the blades in a bout.
- 4
The protocol-based interaction between systems processing a transaction.
- 5
obsoleteInteraction; commerce or intercourse with other people; dealing with others.
- 6
archaicBehaviour, the way one conducts oneself; a person's way of life.
- 7
obsoleteSexual intercourse.
criminal conversation
- 8
obsoleteEngagement with a specific subject, idea, field of study etc.
So grosse is our conuersation, and dull is our apprehension: while mortall Sense, in vs, ruleth the common wealth of our litle world.
verb
- 1
nonstandardTo engage in conversation (with).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Conversation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense expression and exchange of individual ideas through talking with other people:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | conversation |
| German | Gespräch, Unterhaltung, Konversation |
| Portuguese | conversa, conversação |
| Spanish | conversación, plática, platicada, coloquio, conversa |
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 conversation come from?
From Middle English conversacioun, from Old French conversacion and its etymon, Latin conversātiōnem, accusative singular of conversātiō (“conversation”), from conversor (“abide, keep company with”). Displaced native Old English wordlaþu. Doublet of conversazione. Morphologically converse + -ation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).