repression
"repression" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“repression” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,825 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #14,825
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of repressing; state of being repressed.
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 | repression |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #14,825 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “repression” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for repression is 10 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #14,825 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 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 repression, with forms such as "erpression", "reperssion", and "reppression". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "repressive", "recession", "regression", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From repress + -ion. The correct English form is repression, spelled R-E-P-R-E-S-S-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of repressing; state of being repressed.
- 2The involuntary rejection from consciousness of painful or disagreeable ideas, memories, feelings, or impulses.
Etymology
From repress + -ion.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: erpression,reperssion,reppression,represion,represison,repressino,repressionn,repressoin,represtion,reprression,reprsesion,rerpession,rperession,rrepression
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of repression - 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
How do you spell "repression"?
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Using “repression”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is R-E-P-R-E-S-S-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “repressive” - see the side-by-side comparison. repression vs repressive
- 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.