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PlainSpell

distinction

/dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/noun

distinction is spelled D-I-S-T-I-N-C-T-I-O-N. The wrong spelling people search most is distiction: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 56 of all searches for the word. Distinction is a noun meaning “That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided…”. The plural of distinction is distinctions.

How many letters and syllables are in distinction?

Letters11: D-I-S-T-I-N-C-T-I-O-N
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing13 times per million words; the 6,047th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched2; the most searched, distiction, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them)

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).

How do you spell distinction?

Distinction is spelled D-I-S-T-I-N-C-T-I-O-N. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 43 of the searches for distinction in either form.

distinctionthe right spelling1,660 searches a month
distictiona missing n30 searches a month
disctinctionan extra c10 searches a month

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 distinction?

Distinction appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th 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 distinction?

  • /dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/

Distinction has 3 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-distinction.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of distinction

  • distinctions plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does distinction mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination.

  2. 2

    The act of distinguishing, discriminating; discrimination.

    There is a distinction to be made between resting and slacking.

  3. 3

    A feature that causes someone or something to stand out from others of its type.

  4. 4

    A feature that causes someone or something to stand out as being better; a mark of honour, rank, eminence or excellence; the quality of being distinguished.

    She had the distinction of meeting the Queen.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Distinction in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdistinction, différence (that which distinguishes; a single occurrence…)
GermanUnterschied (that which distinguishes; a single occurrence…), Distinktion (the act of distinguishing, discriminating…), Auszeichnung (specifically, a feature that causes someone or…)
Portuguesedistinção (that which distinguishes; a single occurrence…)
Spanishdistinción (that which distinguishes; a single occurrence…), prestancia (specifically, a feature that causes someone or…)

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 distinction come from?

From Middle English distinccioun, from Old French distinction (attested from the 12th century), borrowed from Latin distinctiōnem, action noun of distinguō (“separate, distinguish”). By surface analysis, distinct (“to distinguish”) + -ion. Attested in English from the late 14th century.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after distinction