English Word Reference Free

interpretation

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

14 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

open dictionary

Access

Free

no sign-up needed

Detailed reference entry for the English word "interpretation", 14-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "interpretation" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "interpretation" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

interpretation is aEnglishnoun. It means: An act of interpreting or explaining something unclear; a translation; a version. Pronounced /ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/. It ranks #4,957 in English word frequency.

Compare similar words

See how interpretation compares against similar English words.

Browse all word comparisons →
Key facts for interpretation
PropertyValue
Headwordinterpretation
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/
Letters14
Frequency rank#4,957
Misspellings tracked22
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of interpretation in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for interpretation is 14 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,957 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 22 documented wrong-spelling variants for interpretation, with forms such as "inetrpretation", "innterpretation", and "inteprretation". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English interpretacioun, from the Anglo-Norman form of Old French interpretacion, from Latin interpretātiō, noun of action from interpretor (“to explain, expound, interpret, understand, conclude, infer, comprehend”). Morphologically interpret + … Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is interpretation, spelled I-N-T-E-R-P-R-E-T-A-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    An act of interpreting or explaining something unclear; a translation; a version.
  2. 2
    A sense given by an interpreter; an exposition or explanation given; meaning.
  3. 3
    The discipline or study of translating one spoken or signed language into another (as opposed to translation, which concerns itself with written language).
  4. 4
    The power of explaining.
  5. 5
    An artist's way of expressing thought or embodying a conception of nature through art.
  6. 6
    An act or process of applying general principles or formulae to the explanation of the results obtained in special cases.
  7. 7
    An approximation that allows aspects of a mathematical theory to be discussed in ordinary language.
  8. 8
    An assignment of a truth value to each propositional symbol of a propositional calculus.
  9. 9
    Short for heritage interpretation

Etymology

From Middle English interpretacioun, from the Anglo-Norman form of Old French interpretacion, from Latin interpretātiō, noun of action from interpretor (“to explain, expound, interpret, understand, conclude, infer, comprehend”). Morphologically interpret + -ation.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: inetrpretation,innterpretation,inteprretation,interpertation,interppretation,interpreattion,interpretaiton,interpretasion,interpretatino,interpretationn,interpretatoin,interpretattion,interprettaion,interprettation,interprretation,interprteation,interrpetation,interrpretation,intrepretation,intterpretation,itnerpretation,niterpretation

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for interpretation

Misspelling Variants of "interpretation"

inetrpretation14innterpretation15inteprretation14interpertation14interppretation15interpreattion14interpretaiton14interpretasion14
Misspelling Variants of "interpretation"

Frequency rank: #4,957 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "interpretation"?
"interpretation" is spelled I-N-T-E-R-P-R-E-T-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/.
What does "interpretation" mean?
As a noun, "interpretation" means: An act of interpreting or explaining something unclear; a translation; a version.
What are common misspellings of "interpretation"?
Common misspellings include "inetrpretation", "innterpretation", "inteprretation", "interpertation", "interppretation". The correct spelling is "interpretation".
How do you pronounce "interpretation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "interpretation" is /ɪnˌtɜːpɹəˈteɪʃən/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "interpretation"?
From Middle English interpretacioun, from the Anglo-Norman form of Old French interpretacion, from Latin interpretātiō, noun of action from interpretor (“to explain, expound, interpret, understand, conclude, infer, comprehend”). Morphologically in... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter I in our English index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.