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modality

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

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "modality", 8-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 "modality" 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 "modality" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

modality is aEnglishnoun. It means: The fact of being modal. Often confused with morality and motility.

Key facts for modality
PropertyValue
Headwordmodality
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#36,674
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs4
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for modality is 8 letters long, classified as anoun. Corpus data places it at rank #36,674 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for modality, with forms such as "mdoality", "mmodality", and "moadlity". 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 also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "morality", "motility", "mortality", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French modalité. 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 modality, spelled M-O-D-A-L-I-T-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The fact of being modal.
  2. 2
    The classification of propositions on the basis on whether they claim possibility, impossibility, contingency or necessity; mode.
  3. 3
    The inflection of a verb that shows how its action is conceived by the speaker.
  4. 4
    A method of diagnosis or therapy.
  5. 5
    Any of the senses (such as sight or taste)
  6. 6
    A particular way in which the information is to be encoded for presentation to humans, i.e. to the type of sign and to the status of reality ascribed to or claimed by a sign, text or genre.
  7. 7
    The organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations.
  8. 8
    The subject concerning certain diatonic scales known as musical modes.
  9. 9
    The way in which infrastructure and knowledge of how to use it give rise to a meaningful pattern of interaction (a concept in Anthony Giddens's structuration theory).
  10. 10
    The quality of being limited by a condition.
  11. 11
    That whether a zodiac sign is cardinal, fixed or mutable

Etymology

From French modalité.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: mdoality,mmodality,moadlity,modailty,modalitty,modalityy,modaliyt,modallity,modaltiy,moddality,modlaity,omdality

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for modality

Misspelling Variants of "modality"

mdoality8mmodality9moadlity8modailty8modalitty9modalityy9modaliyt8modallity9
Misspelling Variants of "modality"

Frequency rank: #36,674 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "modality"?
"modality" is spelled M-O-D-A-L-I-T-Y.
What does "modality" mean?
As a noun, "modality" means: The fact of being modal.
What words are commonly confused with "modality"?
"modality" is commonly confused with "morality", "motility", "mortality". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "modality"?
From French modalité. 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 M in our English index:

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