suspension

/səˈspɛnʃən/

//səˈspɛnʃən// noun

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

"suspension" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“suspension” has 16 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #4,804. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,804
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
16
tracked misspellings

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of suspending, or the state of being suspended.

Corpus desk

Index EN-suspension · suspension · English

suspension · rank #4,804 · 16 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,804
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 16 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH Susan

Nearest frequency peer: Susan (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “suspension”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “suspension” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for suspension
PropertyValue
Headwordsuspension
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/səˈspɛnʃən/
Letters10
Frequency rank#4,804
Misspellings tracked16
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “suspension”

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

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “Susan” (#4,803), “terrorism” (#4,805), “supplied” (#4,802). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “suspension” is #4,804. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 16 spelling variants around suspension (IPA /səˈspɛnʃən/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,804 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Wiktionary lists 12 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 16 likely wrong-spelling variants for suspension, with forms such as "ssupension", "ssuspension", and "supsension". 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 is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Late Latin suspensiōnem (“arching, vaulting; suspension”), from suspendēre (“to hang up, to suspend”), from sub- (“under”) + pendere (“to hang, to suspend”), from Proto-Italic *pendō (“to hang, to put in a hanging position”), from Proto-Indo-E… The correct English form is suspension, spelled S-U-S-P-E-N-S-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of suspending, or the state of being suspended.
  2. 2
    A temporary or conditional delay, interruption or discontinuation.
  3. 3
    The state of a solid or substance produced when its particles are mixed with, but not dissolved in, a fluid, and are capable of separation by straining.
  4. 4
    Thus a kind of silt or sludge.
  5. 5
    The act of keeping a person who is listening in doubt and expectation of what is to follow.
  6. 6
    The temporary barring of a person from a workplace, society, etc. pending investigation into alleged misconduct.
  7. 7
    The process of barring a student from school grounds as a form of punishment (particularly out-of-school suspension).
  8. 8
    The act of or discord produced by prolonging one or more tones of a chord into the chord which follows, thus producing a momentary discord, suspending the concord which the ear expects.
  9. 9
    A stay or postponement of the execution of a sentence, usually by letters of suspension granted on application to the Lord Ordinary.
  10. 10
    A topological space derived from another by taking the product of the original space with an interval and collapsing each end of the product to a point.
  11. 11
    A function derived, in a standard way, from another, such that the instant function’s domain and codomain are suspensions of the original function’s.
  12. 12
    The system of springs and shock absorbers connected to the wheels in an automobile, which allows the vehicle to move smoothly with reduced shock to its occupants.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. suspension from a hook
  2. Fear of dioxin emissions led to suspension of efforts to establish a waste-to-energy plant at the Brooklyn Navy yard.

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin suspensiōnem (“arching, vaulting; suspension”), from suspendēre (“to hang up, to suspend”), from sub- (“under”) + pendere (“to hang, to suspend”), from Proto-Italic *pendō (“to hang, to put in a hanging position”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pénd-e-ti, from *(s)pend- (“to pull; to spin”)). Compare Anglo-Norman suspensiun, French suspension, Occitan suspensio.

Synonyms

out-of-school suspensionhaltintermissioninterruptionstoppausesyncope

This word in other languages

suspensión(Español)Suspension(Deutsch)suspensão(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ssupension
  • ssuspension
  • supsension
  • susepnsion
  • suspenison
  • suspennsion
  • suspensino
  • suspensionn
  • suspensoin
  • suspenssion
  • suspention
  • suspesnion
  • suspnesion
  • susppension
  • susspension
  • usspension

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of suspension - 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.

ssupension2ssuspension1supsension2susepnsion2suspenison2suspennsion1suspensino2suspensionn1
Edit distance from "suspension"

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 "suspension"?
"suspension" is spelled S-U-S-P-E-N-S-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /səˈspɛnʃən/.
What does "suspension" mean?
As a noun, "suspension" means: The act of suspending, or the state of being suspended.
What are common misspellings of "suspension"?
Common misspellings include "ssupension", "ssuspension", "supsension", "susepnsion", "suspenison". The correct spelling is "suspension".
How do you pronounce "suspension"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "suspension" is /səˈspɛnʃən/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "suspension"?
Borrowed from Late Latin suspensiōnem (“arching, vaulting; suspension”), from suspendēre (“to hang up, to suspend”), from sub- (“under”) + pendere (“to hang, to suspend”), from Proto-Italic *pendō (“to hang, to put in a hanging position”), from Pr... 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 "suspension", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

securities#4,795popularity#4,788complaints#4,841directions#4,846

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (16 here; floor ≥5).

differently16 variantsdisgusting16 variantsconversion16 variantsphotograph16 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list