exposition
/ɛkspəˈzɪʃən/
"exposition" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“exposition” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #13,146 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #13,146
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The action of exposing something to something, such as skin to the sunlight.
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 | exposition |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɛkspəˈzɪʃən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #13,146 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “exposition” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for exposition is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɛkspəˈzɪʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,146 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for exposition, with forms such as "epxosition", "exopsition", and "expoistion". 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 also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "expedition", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English exposicioun, from Old French esposicion, from Latin expositiō, from expōnere (“to put forth”). The sense meaning "exhibition" is a later semantic loan from French exposition. The correct English form is exposition, spelled E-X-P-O-S-I-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The action of exposing something to something, such as skin to the sunlight.
- 2The act or process of declaring or describing something through either speech or writing, in nonfiction or in fiction; the portions and aspects of a piece of writing that exist mainly to describe or explain a set of things (such as, in fiction, the setting, characters and other non-plot elements).
- 3The act of expulsion, or being expelled, from a place.
- 4An exhibition, especially of goods, artwork or cultural displays to the public.
- 5An essay or speech in which any topic is discussed in detail.
- 6An opening section in fiction, in which background information about the characters, events or setting is conveyed.
- 7The opening section of a movement in sonata form; the opening section of a fugue.
- 8The abandonment of an unwanted child.
Etymology
From Middle English exposicioun, from Old French esposicion, from Latin expositiō, from expōnere (“to put forth”). The sense meaning "exhibition" is a later semantic loan from French exposition.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: epxosition,exopsition,expoistion,exposiiton,exposision,expositino,expositionn,expositoin,exposittion,expossition,expostiion,expposition,expsoition,exxposition,xeposition
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of exposition - 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
How do you spell "exposition"?
What does "exposition" mean?
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Using “exposition”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is E-X-P-O-S-I-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɛkspəˈzɪʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “expedition” - see the side-by-side comparison. exposition vs expedition
- 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.