vocalization
/vəʊk(ə)lʌɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/
"vocalization" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“vocalization” is uncommon English (frequency #70,386 among 7,391 “V” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,386
- frequency rank, English
- 7,391
- “V” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The act of vocalizing or something vocalized; a vocal utterance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | vocalization |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /vəʊk(ə)lʌɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #70,386 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vocalization” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
vocalization is uncommon English at frequency #70,386 among 7,391 “V” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /vəʊk(ə)lʌɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for vocalization in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From vocalize + -ation. The correct English form is vocalization, spelled V-O-C-A-L-I-Z-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1The act of vocalizing or something vocalized; a vocal utterance
- 2Any specific mode of utterance; pronunciation
- 3The use of speech to express an idea
- 4The production of communication sounds with the syrinx or larynx (in tetrapods) or with the swim bladder (in fish)
- 5The production of musical sounds using the voice, especially as an exercise
- 6The vowel diacritics in certain scripts, like Hebrew and Arabic, which are not normally written, but which are used in dictionaries, children's books, religious texts and textbooks for learners.
- 7The addition of these diacritics and the respective phonemes to a word; the spoken form the word thereby receives.
- 8The change in pronunciation of historically or variably consonant (typically sonorant) sounds as vowels. For example, the syllabic /l/ in words like people or the coda one in words like cold or coal are variably realized as a high back vowel or glide—[ʊ], [u], [ɤ] or [o]—in many dialects of English in the US, UK, and the Southern Hemisphere. For example, in African American Vernacular English, one common pronunciation of the words "people", "cold", and "coal" is [pʰipʊ], [kʰoɤd], or [kʰoɤ] respectively.
Etymology
From vocalize + -ation.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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 “vocalization”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is V-O-C-A-L-I-Z-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /vəʊk(ə)lʌɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.