vacation
/vəˈkeɪ.ʃən/
"vacation" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“vacation” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,664 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,664
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An extended trip or journey away from home for rest or pleasure.
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 | vacation |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /vəˈkeɪ.ʃən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #3,664 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vacation” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for vacation is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /vəˈkeɪ.ʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,664 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for vacation, with forms such as "avcation", "vaaction", and "vacaiton". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "vocation", "variation", "valuation", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English vacation, vacacion, vacacioun, from Anglo-Norman vacacioun, from Old French vacacion, vacation, from Latin vacātiō. Equivalent to vacate + -ion. The correct English form is vacation, spelled V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1An extended trip or journey away from home for rest or pleasure.
- 2An extended period of leisure time away from work or school.
- 3A period during which official activity or business is formally suspended; an official holiday from university, law courts etc.
- 4The act of vacating something; moving out.
- 5The act of making legally void.
- 6Freedom from some business or activity.
- 7Free time given over to a specific purpose; occupation, activity.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English vacation, vacacion, vacacioun, from Anglo-Norman vacacioun, from Old French vacacion, vacation, from Latin vacātiō. Equivalent to vacate + -ion.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: avcation,vaaction,vacaiton,vacasion,vacatino,vacationn,vacatoin,vacattion,vaccation,vactaion,vcaation,vvacation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of vacation - 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
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Using “vacation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /vəˈkeɪ.ʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “vocation” - see the side-by-side comparison. vacation vs vocation
- 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.