separation
/ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/noun
separation is spelled S-E-P-A-R-A-T-I-O-N. The wrong spelling people search most is seperation: about 1,700 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026). Separation is a noun meaning “The act of disuniting two or more things, or the condition of being separated”. The plural of separation is separations.
How many letters and syllables are in separation?
| Letters | 10: S-E-P-A-R-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 5,778th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, seperation, about 1,700 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell separation?
Separation is spelled S-E-P-A-R-A-T-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is separation?
Separation appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 5,778th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce separation?
- US /ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
- Australia /ˌsep.əˈɹæɪ.ʃən/
Separation has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-separation.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with separation?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as separation from its last stressed vowel (/eɪʃən/):
- situation
- association
- population
- administration
- operation
- organization
- application
- location
- generation
- foundation
- conversation
- investigation
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of separation
- separations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does separation mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The act of disuniting two or more things, or the condition of being separated.
- 2
The act or condition of two or more people being separated from one another.
- 3
The act or condition of a married couple living in separate homes while remaining legally married.
- 4
An agreement legalizing such an arrangement.
- 5
The place at which a division occurs.
- 6
An interval, gap or space that separates things or people.
- 7
An object that separates two spaces.
- 8
Departure from active duty, while not necessarily leaving the service entirely.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate separation?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of separation: sepn..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Separation in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense act of disuniting two or more things:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | séparation |
| German | Trennung |
| Portuguese | separação |
| Spanish | separación |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does separation come from?
Attested in the 15th Century C.E.; from Middle English separacioun, from Old French separacion, from Latin separatio, separationem. Morphologically separate + -ion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).