distillation
/dɪstɪˈleɪʃən/
"distillation" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“distillation” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,520 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #28,520
- frequency rank, English
- 12
- letters
- 17
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of falling in drops, or the act of pouring out in drops.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | distillation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /dɪstɪˈleɪʃən/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #28,520 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “distillation” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for distillation is 12 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪstɪˈleɪʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,520 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for distillation, with forms such as "ddistillation", "disitllation", and "disstillation". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English distillacioun, from Anglo-Norman distillacioun, from Latin distīllātiōnem, accusative of distīllātiō. The correct English form is distillation, spelled D-I-S-T-I-L-L-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of falling in drops, or the act of pouring out in drops.
- 2That which falls in drops.
- 3The separation of more volatile parts of a substance from less volatile ones by evaporation and condensation.
- 4The separation of more volatile parts of a substance from less volatile ones by evaporation and condensation.
- 5The substance extracted by distilling.
- 6The transformation of a complex large language model into a smaller one.
Etymology
From Middle English distillacioun, from Anglo-Norman distillacioun, from Latin distīllātiōnem, accusative of distīllātiō.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddistillation,disitllation,disstillation,distilaltion,distilation,distillaiton,distillasion,distillatino,distillationn,distillatoin,distillattion,distilltaion,distlilation,disttillation,ditsillation,dsitillation,idstillation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of distillation - 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 “distillation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-S-T-I-L-L-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɪstɪˈleɪʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.