deviation
/ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/
"deviation" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“deviation” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #17,119 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #17,119
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of deviating; wandering off the correct or true path or road.
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 | deviation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #17,119 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “deviation” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for deviation is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,119 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for deviation, with forms such as "ddeviation", "deivation", and "devaition". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "devotion", "divination", "depiction", 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 French deviation, from Medieval Latin deviatio. Morphologically deviate + -ion. The correct English form is deviation, spelled D-E-V-I-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of deviating; wandering off the correct or true path or road.
- 2A departure from the correct way of acting.
- 3The state or result of having deviated; a transgression; an act of sin; an error; an offense.
- 4A detour in a road or railway.
- 5A detour to one side of the originally-planned flightpath (for instance, to avoid weather); the act of making such a detour.
- 6The voluntary and unnecessary departure of a ship from, or delay in, the regular and usual course of the specific voyage insured, thus releasing the underwriters from their responsibility.
- 7The shortest distance between the center of the target and the point where a projectile hits or bursts.
- 8For interval variables and ratio variables, a measure of difference between the observed value and the mean.
- 9The signed difference between a value and its reference value.
Etymology
From Middle French deviation, from Medieval Latin deviatio. Morphologically deviate + -ion.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddeviation,deivation,devaition,deviaiton,deviasion,deviatino,deviationn,deviatoin,deviattion,devitaion,devviation,dveiation,edviation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of deviation - 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
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Using “deviation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-E-V-I-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌdiː.viˈeɪʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “devotion” - see the side-by-side comparison. deviation vs devotion
- 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.