preselection

noun

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

"preselection" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“preselection” is uncommon English (frequency #66,953 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#66,953
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The process by which a candidate for public office is selected, usually by a political party

Corpus desk

Index EN-preselection · preselection · English

preselection · rank #66,953 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #66,953
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH prepper

Nearest frequency peer: prepper (-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 “preselection”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for preselection
PropertyValue
Headwordpreselection
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Frequency rank#66,953
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “preselection” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).preselectionfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “prepper” (#66,952), “proffer” (#66,954), “prospectively” (#66,956). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “preselection” is #66,953. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

preselection is uncommon English at frequency #66,953 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for preselection in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From pre- + selection. The correct English form is preselection, spelled P-R-E-S-E-L-E-C-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The process by which a candidate for public office is selected, usually by a political party
  2. 2
    Selection in advance
  3. 3
    The preference for a mate found attractive by other members of one's sex.
  4. 4
    The process of a jury selecting entries to be shown in a competition when there are too many entries for the audience or schedule. The term preselection is often used with the opposite meaning in demoscene context, i.e. selecting entries not to be shown.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The preselection in Mr Costello's Victorian seat of Higgins will start in April, when he will have to reveal whether he will stand for another term.
  2. Suddenly, the doctor and the geneticist have have become active partners in the creation of human life through artificial insemination, sex preselection, test-tube babies, host mothers, recombinant DNA technology, […]

Etymology

From pre- + selection.

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 "preselection"?
"preselection" is spelled P-R-E-S-E-L-E-C-T-I-O-N.
What does "preselection" mean?
As a noun, "preselection" means: The process by which a candidate for public office is selected, usually by a political party
What is the origin of the word "preselection"?
From pre- + selection. 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 "preselection", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

reallocation#66,971reductionist#66,976reevaluation#66,977orthographic#66,904

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list