generation
/ˌd͡ʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/
"generation" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“generation” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,601 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,601
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation.
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 | generation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌd͡ʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #1,601 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “generation” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for generation is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌd͡ʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,601 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 12 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 generation, with forms such as "egneration", "geenration", and "geneartion". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "generator", "generative", "generations", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English generacioun, from Anglo-Norman generacioun, Middle French generacion, and their source, Latin generātiō, from generāre (“to beget, generate”). By surface analysis, generate + -ion. The correct English form is generation, spelled G-E-N-E-R-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation.
- 2The act of creating a living creature or organism; procreation.
- 3Race, family; breed.
- 4A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or degree in genealogy, the members of a family from the same parents, considered as a single unit.
- 5Descendants, progeny; offspring.
- 6The average amount of time needed for children to grow up and have children of their own, generally considered to be a period of around thirty years, used as a measure of time.
- 7A set stage in the development of computing or of a specific technology.
- 8The formation or production of any geometrical magnitude, as a line, a surface, a solid, by the motion, in accordance with a mathematical law, of a point or a magnitude, by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc.
- 9A group of people born in a specific range of years and whose members can relate culturally to one another.
- 10A version of a form of pop culture which differs from later or earlier versions.
- 11A copy of a recording made from an earlier copy.
- 12A single iteration of a cellular automaton rule on a pattern.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English generacioun, from Anglo-Norman generacioun, Middle French generacion, and their source, Latin generātiō, from generāre (“to beget, generate”). By surface analysis, generate + -ion.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: egneration,geenration,geneartion,generaiton,generasion,generatino,generationn,generatoin,generattion,generration,genertaion,genneration,genreation,ggeneration,gneeration
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of generation - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “generation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-E-N-E-R-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌd͡ʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “generator” - see the side-by-side comparison. generation vs generator
- 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.