desolation
/ˌdɛsəˈleɪʃən/
"desolation" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“desolation” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,804 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #27,804
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation.
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 | desolation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌdɛsəˈleɪʃən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #27,804 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “desolation” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for desolation is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌdɛsəˈleɪʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,804 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 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for desolation, with forms such as "ddesolation", "deoslation", and "desloation". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 5 confusable-pair relationships, "detonation", "devolution", "deflation", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English desolacioun, from Middle French, Old French desolacion f, from Latin dēsōlātiō f. The correct English form is desolation, spelled D-E-S-O-L-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation.
- 2The state of being desolated or laid waste
- 3A place or country wasted and forsaken.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English desolacioun, from Middle French, Old French desolacion f, from Latin dēsōlātiō f.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddesolation,deoslation,desloation,desoaltion,desolaiton,desolasion,desolatino,desolationn,desolatoin,desolattion,desollation,desoltaion,dessolation,dseolation,edsolation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of desolation - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
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Using “desolation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-S-O-L-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌdɛsəˈleɪʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “detonation” - see the side-by-side comparison. desolation vs detonation
- 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.