locomotion

/ləʊ.kəˈməʊ.ʃən/

//ləʊ.kəˈməʊ.ʃən// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"locomotion" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“locomotion” has 15 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #33,715. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#33,715
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords
15
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The ability to move from place to place, or the act of doing so.

Corpus desk

Index EN-locomotion · locomotion · English

locomotion · rank #33,715 · 15 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #33,715
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 15 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH locket

Nearest frequency peer: locket (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “locomotion”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “locomotion” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

locomotion vs locomotive
80% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for locomotion
PropertyValue
Headwordlocomotion
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ləʊ.kəˈməʊ.ʃən/
Letters10
Frequency rank#33,715
Misspellings tracked15
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “locomotion”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).locomotionlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “locket” (#33,714), “Lott” (#33,716), “localised” (#33,713). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “locomotion” is #33,715. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 15 spelling variants around locomotion (IPA /ləʊ.kəˈməʊ.ʃən/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #33,715 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for locomotion, with forms such as "lcoomotion", "llocomotion", and "loccomotion". 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, "locomotive", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French locomotion, from Latin locō (literally “from a place”) (ablative of locus (“place”)) + mōtiōnem (“motion, a moving”) (nominative mōtio), from Latin movēre (“move; change, exchange, go in or out, quit”), from Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁- (“to m… The correct English form is locomotion, spelled L-O-C-O-M-O-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The ability to move from place to place, or the act of doing so.
  2. 2
    Self-powered motion by which a whole organism changes its location through walking, running, jumping, crawling, swimming, brachiating or flying.
  3. 3
    A dance, originally popular in the 1960s, in which the arms are used to mimic the motion of the connecting rods of a steam locomotive.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how locomotion appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. So it is that one of the characteristics that the sperm whale shares with all cetaceans is that it swims by flexing its tail flukes dorso-ventrally, a less efficient way of swimming than that of its distant piscine ancestors, but a mode of locomotion that derives directly from the galloping of its more recent terrestrial ones.
  2. The assessment also looks at reflexes, stationary (body control), locomotion (movement), grasping and visual-motor integration (eyes and hands coordinated).

Etymology

From French locomotion, from Latin locō (literally “from a place”) (ablative of locus (“place”)) + mōtiōnem (“motion, a moving”) (nominative mōtio), from Latin movēre (“move; change, exchange, go in or out, quit”), from Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁- (“to move, drive”).

This word in other languages

locomoción(Español)locomotion(Français)Fortbewegung(Deutsch)locomoção(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • lcoomotion
  • llocomotion
  • loccomotion
  • locmootion
  • locommotion
  • locomoiton
  • locomosion
  • locomotino
  • locomotionn
  • locomotoin
  • locomottion
  • locomtoion
  • locoomtion
  • loocmotion
  • olcomotion

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of locomotion - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

lcoomotion2llocomotion1loccomotion1locmootion2locommotion1locomoiton2locomosion1locomotino2
Edit distance from "locomotion"

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 "locomotion"?
"locomotion" is spelled L-O-C-O-M-O-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ləʊ.kəˈməʊ.ʃən/.
What does "locomotion" mean?
As a noun, "locomotion" means: The ability to move from place to place, or the act of doing so.
What words are commonly confused with "locomotion"?
"locomotion" is commonly confused with "locomotive". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "locomotion"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "locomotion" is /ləʊ.kəˈməʊ.ʃən/. 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 "locomotion"?
From French locomotion, from Latin locō (literally “from a place”) (ablative of locus (“place”)) + mōtiōnem (“motion, a moving”) (nominative mōtio), from Latin movēre (“move; change, exchange, go in or out, quit”), from Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ew... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "locomotion", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

kickboxing#33,701innocently#33,687inflection#33,686impervious#33,680

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (15 here; floor ≥5).

McFarland15 variantshumanistic15 variantsnewlyweds15 variantsopinionated15 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list