oscillation
/ˌɑː.səˈleɪ.ʃən/
"oscillation" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“oscillation” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #30,523 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #30,523
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - the act of oscillating or the state of being oscillated
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 | oscillation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌɑː.səˈleɪ.ʃən/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #30,523 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “oscillation” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for oscillation is 11 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌɑː.səˈleɪ.ʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #30,523 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for oscillation, with forms such as "ocsillation", "osccillation", and "oscilaltion". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "oscillator", "oscillating", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French oscillation, from Latin oscillatio, from Latin oscillo. By surface analysis, oscillate + -ion. The correct English form is oscillation, spelled O-S-C-I-L-L-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1the act of oscillating or the state of being oscillated
- 2a regular periodic fluctuation in value about some mean
- 3a single such cycle
- 4(of a function) defined for each point x in the domain of the function by inf diam(f(U))∣Uisaneighborhoodofx, and describes the difference (possibly ∞) between the limit superior and limit inferior of the function near that point.
Etymology
From French oscillation, from Latin oscillatio, from Latin oscillo. By surface analysis, oscillate + -ion.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ocsillation,osccillation,oscilaltion,oscilation,oscillaiton,oscillasion,oscillatino,oscillationn,oscillatoin,oscillattion,oscilltaion,osclilation,osicllation,osscillation,socillation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of oscillation - 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
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Using “oscillation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-S-C-I-L-L-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌɑː.səˈleɪ.ʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “oscillator” - see the side-by-side comparison. oscillation vs oscillator
- 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.