positional
"positional" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“positional” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #29,044 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #29,044
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Relating to the position of something.
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 | positional |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #29,044 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “positional” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for positional is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective. Corpus data places it at rank #29,044 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 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for positional, with forms such as "opsitional", "poistional", and "posiitonal". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "positions", "positioned", "position", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From position + -al. The correct English form is positional, spelled P-O-S-I-T-I-O-N-A-L.
Definition
- 1Relating to the position of something.
- 2Having or pertaining to a value that is a function of its social desirability, as opposed to its utility.
- 3Based on long-term strategy, on gaining and exploiting small advantages, and on analyzing the larger position, rather than calculating more immediate tactics.
- 4An argument that is passed to a subroutine according to its position in the invocation code, rather than on its name; compare with named.
Etymology
From position + -al.
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: opsitional,poistional,posiitonal,positinoal,positioanl,positionall,positionla,positionnal,positoinal,posittional,possitional,postiional,ppositional,psoitional
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of positional - 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 “positional”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-S-I-T-I-O-N-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “positions” - see the side-by-side comparison. positional vs positions
- 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.