permission
/pəˈmɪʃ.ən/
"permission" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“permission” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,015 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,015
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - authorisation; consent (especially formal consent from someone in authority)
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 | permission |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pəˈmɪʃ.ən/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #3,015 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “permission” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for permission is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəˈmɪʃ.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,015 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for permission, with forms such as "eprmission", "pemrission", and "perimssion". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "permissive", "percussion", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English permision, permission, permissioun, permyssion, from Middle French permission, from Latin permissiō. Equivalent to permit + -ion. Mostly replaced native English leave, from Old English lēaf (“permission”). The correct English form is permission, spelled P-E-R-M-I-S-S-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1authorisation; consent (especially formal consent from someone in authority)
- 2The act of permitting.
- 3Flags or access control lists pertaining to a file that dictate who can access it, and how.
Etymology
From Middle English permision, permission, permissioun, permyssion, from Middle French permission, from Latin permissiō. Equivalent to permit + -ion. Mostly replaced native English leave, from Old English lēaf (“permission”).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eprmission,pemrission,perimssion,permision,permisison,permissino,permissionn,permissoin,permistion,permmission,permsision,perrmission,ppermission,premission
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of permission - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 “permission”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-R-M-I-S-S-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pəˈmɪʃ.ən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “permissive” - see the side-by-side comparison. permission vs permissive
- 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.