on occasion

prep_phrase

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

The verdict

“on occasion” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Occasionally, from time to time, now and then.

Corpus desk

Index EN-on-occasion · on occasion · English

on occasion · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "O" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for on occasion
PropertyValue
Headwordon occasion
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechPrep_phrase
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “on occasion” in English

on occasionsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

on occasion is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Occasionally, from time to time, now and then.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for on occasion, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is on occasion, spelled O-N- -O-C-C-A-S-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Occasionally, from time to time, now and then.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Only on rare occasion.
  2. It is not in itself surprising that a genuine advance of knowledge should in this manner become on occasion a source of new error.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "on occasion"?
"on occasion" is spelled O-N- -O-C-C-A-S-I-O-N.
What does "on occasion" mean?
As a prep_phrase, "on occasion" means: Occasionally, from time to time, now and then.
What language does "on occasion" come from?
"on occasion" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list