settlement
/ˈsɛ.təl.mənt/
"settlement" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“settlement” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,085 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,085
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of settling.
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 | settlement |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsɛ.təl.mənt/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #3,085 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “settlement” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for settlement is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɛ.təl.mənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,085 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 12 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 settlement, with forms such as "esttlement", "setlement", and "setltement". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "settlements", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From settle + -ment. The correct English form is settlement, spelled S-E-T-T-L-E-M-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1The act of settling.
- 2The state of being settled.
- 3A colony that is newly established; a place or region newly settled.
- 4A community of people living together, such as a hamlet, village, town, or city; a populated place.
- 5A site where people used to live together in ancient times; an ancient simple kind of village.
- 6The gradual sinking of a building. Fractures or dislocations caused by settlement.
- 7The delivery of goods by the seller and payment for them by the buyer, under a previously agreed trade or transaction or contract entered into.
- 8A disposition of property, or the act of granting it.
- 9A settled place of abode; residence; a right growing out of legal residence.
- 10A resolution of a dispute.
- 11A mutual agreement to end a dispute without resorting to legal proceedings, also known as an out-of-court settlement or settling out of court.
- 12An estate or district in Anglo-Indian Bengal where, instead of taking a quota of the year's produce, the government took a fixed sum several times a year from the local cultivators.
Etymology
From settle + -ment.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: esttlement,setlement,setltement,settelment,settleemnt,settlemennt,settlementt,settlemetn,settlemment,settlemnet,settllement,settlmeent,ssettlement,stetlement
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of settlement - 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
How do you spell "settlement"?
What does "settlement" mean?
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Using “settlement”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-T-T-L-E-M-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɛ.təl.mənt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “settlements” - see the side-by-side comparison. settlement vs settlements
- 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.