penitence

noun

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

"penitence" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“penitence” is uncommon English (frequency #70,999 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,999
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The condition of being penitent; a feeling of regret or remorse for doing wrong or sinning.

Corpus desk

Index EN-penitence · penitence · English

penitence · rank #70,999 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #70,999
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH Pendle

Nearest frequency peer: Pendle (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “penitence”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “penitence” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for penitence
PropertyValue
Headwordpenitence
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters9
Frequency rank#70,999
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “penitence” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).penitencefalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Pendle” (#70,998), “penumbra” (#71,000), “pedometer” (#70,997). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “penitence” is #70,999. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

penitence is uncommon English at frequency #70,999 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The condition of being penitent; a feeling of regret or remorse for doing wrong or sinning.".

No misspelling variants are generated for penitence in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: First attested circa 13th century, from Middle English penitence, from Old French penitence, from Latin paenitentia (“repentance, penitence”), from paenitēns (“penitent”), present active participle of paeniteō (“regret, repent”). Equivalent to penitent + -e… The correct English form is penitence, spelled P-E-N-I-T-E-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The condition of being penitent; a feeling of regret or remorse for doing wrong or sinning.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. an assassin who misses his aim and flounders into penitence much as that discomfortable drama misses its point and stumbles into vacuity
  2. As for the moral turpitude that man unveiled to me, even with tears of penitence, I cannot, even in memory, dwell on it without a start of horror.

Etymology

First attested circa 13th century, from Middle English penitence, from Old French penitence, from Latin paenitentia (“repentance, penitence”), from paenitēns (“penitent”), present active participle of paeniteō (“regret, repent”). Equivalent to penitent + -ence. Doublet of penance.

Synonyms

compunctioncontritionremorserepentancepenanceatonement

This word in other languages

penitencia(Español)Reue(Deutsch)penitência(Português)

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 "penitence"?
"penitence" is spelled P-E-N-I-T-E-N-C-E.
What does "penitence" mean?
As a noun, "penitence" means: The condition of being penitent; a feeling of regret or remorse for doing wrong or sinning.
What is the origin of the word "penitence"?
First attested circa 13th century, from Middle English penitence, from Old French penitence, from Latin paenitentia (“repentance, penitence”), from paenitēns (“penitent”), present active participle of paeniteō (“regret, repent”). Equivalent to pen... 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 "penitence", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pedometer#70,997Phoenicia#71,006paintwork#70,987printings#71,023

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list