occasional
/əˈkeɪʒ(ə)nəl/
"occasional" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“occasional” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,896 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #5,896
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Occurring or appearing irregularly from time to time, but not often; incidental.
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 | occasional |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈkeɪʒ(ə)nəl/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #5,896 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “occasional” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for occasional is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈkeɪʒ(ə)nəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,896 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for occasional, with forms such as "cocasional", "ocacsional", and "ocasional". 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, "occasions", "occasioned", "occasionally", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English occasyonal, from Medieval Latin occāsiōnālis and Old French ocasionel. By surface analysis, occasion + -al. The correct English form is occasional, spelled O-C-C-A-S-I-O-N-A-L.
Definition
- 1Occurring or appearing irregularly from time to time, but not often; incidental.
- 2Created for a specific occasion.
- 3Intended for use as the occasion requires.
- 4Acting in the indicated role from time to time.
Etymology
From Middle English occasyonal, from Medieval Latin occāsiōnālis and Old French ocasionel. By surface analysis, occasion + -al.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cocasional,ocacsional,ocasional,occaisonal,occasinoal,occasioanl,occasionall,occasionla,occasionnal,occasoinal,occassional,occsaional
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of occasional - 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
How do you spell "occasional"?
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Using “occasional”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-C-C-A-S-I-O-N-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈkeɪʒ(ə)nəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “occasions” - see the side-by-side comparison. occasional vs occasions
- 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.