echolocation
/ˌɛkoʊloʊˈkeɪʃən/
"echolocation" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“echolocation” is uncommon English (frequency #64,344 among 18,836 “E” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,344
- frequency rank, English
- 18,836
- “E” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The use of echoes to detect objects as observed in bats and other natural creatures.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | echolocation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌɛkoʊloʊˈkeɪʃən/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #64,344 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “echolocation” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
echolocation is uncommon English at frequency #64,344 among 18,836 “E” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌɛkoʊloʊˈkeɪʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The use of echoes to detect objects as observed in bats and other natural creatures.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for echolocation, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Coined by American zoologist Donald Griffin in 1944, from echo- + location. The correct English form is echolocation, spelled E-C-H-O-L-O-C-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The use of echoes to detect objects as observed in bats and other natural creatures.
Etymology
Coined by American zoologist Donald Griffin in 1944, from echo- + location.
This word in other languages
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 “echolocation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-C-H-O-L-O-C-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɛkoʊloʊˈkeɪʃən/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.