distance
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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8 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "distance", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "distance" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "distance" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
distance is aEnglishnoun. It means: An amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line. Pronounced /ˈdɪst(ə)n(t)s/. It ranks #1,479 in English word frequency. Often confused with distant and distinct.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | distance |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdɪst(ə)n(t)s/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #1,479 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for distance is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdɪst(ə)n(t)s/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,479 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 25 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 13 documented wrong-spelling variants for distance, with forms such as "ddistance", "disatnce", and "disstance". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "distant", "distinct", "distaste", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English distance, distaunce, destance (“disagreement, dispute; discrimination; armed conflict; hostility; trouble; space between two points; time interval”), from Anglo-Norman distance, distaunce, destance, Middle French distance, and Old French… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is distance, spelled D-I-S-T-A-N-C-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1An amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
- 2An amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
- 3Chiefly in from a distance: a place which is far away or remote; specifically (especially painting), a more remote part of a landscape or view as contrasted with the foreground.
- 4Chiefly with a modifying word: a measure between two points or quantities; a difference, a variance.
- 5An interval or length of time between events.
- 6A separation in some way other than space or time.
- 7Synonym of length (“an extent measured along the longest dimension of an object”).
- 8A disagreement, a dispute; also, an estrangement.
- 9A difference in pitch between sounds; an interval.
- 10The amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
- 11The amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
- 12The amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
- 13The amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
- 14The amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
- 15The amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
- 16The amount of space between points (often geographical points), usually (but not necessarily) measured along a straight line.
- 17Chiefly preceded by the, especially in into or in the distance: the place that is far away or remote.
- 18The state of being separated from something else, especially by a long way; the state of being far off or remote; farness, remoteness.
- 19The entire amount of progress to an objective.
- 20The state of remoteness or separation in some way other than space or time.
- 21The state of people not being close, friendly, or intimate with each other; also, the state of people who were once close, friendly, or intimate with each other no longer being so; estrangement.
- 22Excessive reserve or lack of friendliness shown by a person; aloofness, coldness.
- 23The rank to which an important person belongs.
- 24The state of disagreement or dispute between people; dissension.
- 25Often followed by to or towards: an attitude of remoteness or reserve which respect requires; hence, ceremoniousness.
Etymology
From Middle English distance, distaunce, destance (“disagreement, dispute; discrimination; armed conflict; hostility; trouble; space between two points; time interval”), from Anglo-Norman distance, distaunce, destance, Middle French distance, and Old French destance, destaunce, distaunce (“debate; difference, distinction; discord, quarrel; dispute; space between two points; time interval”) (modern French distance), and directly from their etymon Latin distantia (“difference, diversity; distance, remoteness; space between two points”) (whence also Late Latin distantia (“disagreement; discrepancy; gap, opening; time interval”)), from distāns (“being distant; standing apart”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Distāns is the present active participle of distō (“to be distant; to stand apart; to differ”), from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder; in two’) + stō (“to stand”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”)). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * Middle Dutch distancie, distantie (modern Dutch distantie); Dutch afstand (“distance”, literally “off-stand, off-stance”) * German Distanz; German Abstand * Italian distanza * Portuguese distância * Spanish distancia
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddistance,disatnce,disstance,distacne,distancce,distanec,distannce,distence,distnace,disttance,ditsance,dsitance,idstance
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for distance
Misspelling Variants of "distance"
Frequency rank: #1,479 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter D in our English index: