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wellington

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

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Letters

10 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "wellington", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "wellington" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "wellington" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

Wellington is aEnglishname. It means: The capital city of New Zealand in the Wellington region. Pronounced /ˈwɛlɪŋtən/. It ranks #9,420 in English word frequency. Often confused with Wilmington.

Key facts for Wellington
PropertyValue
HeadwordWellington
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechName
IPA/ˈwɛlɪŋtən/
Letters10
Frequency rank#9,420
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of Wellington in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for Wellington is 10 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈwɛlɪŋtən/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,420 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 38 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 Wellington, with forms such as "ewllington", "welilngton", and "welington". 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, "Wilmington", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From earlier Wēolingtūn, from: # For the place in Shropshire, England: Partly uncertain. The second element from Old English tūn (“estate”), while the first element could come either from *wœling (“ridge, bank”), or else from *wēoling (“device, artefact”). … Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is Wellington, spelled W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The capital city of New Zealand in the Wellington region.
  2. 2
    by extension, the Government of New Zealand.
  3. 3
    A region in the south of the North Island, New Zealand, which includes the capital; in full, Wellington Region.
  4. 4
    Some places in England:
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    Any of several places in a select number of countries, including:
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    Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, British soldier and statesman.
  38. 38
    A habitational surname from Old English from the places in England.

Etymology

From earlier Wēolingtūn, from: # For the place in Shropshire, England: Partly uncertain. The second element from Old English tūn (“estate”), while the first element could come either from *wœling (“ridge, bank”), or else from *wēoling (“device, artefact”). # For the place in Somerset, England: Partly obscure. The last element from Old English tūn (“estate”), while the first element could come from either the personal name *Wēola + ing, or else *wēoling (“trap”). # Many places with this name are named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, British soldier and statesman.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ewllington,welilngton,welington,wellignton,wellinggton,wellingotn,wellingtno,wellingtonn,wellingtton,wellinngton,wellintgon,wellnigton,wlelington,wwellington

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Wellington

Misspelling Variants of "Wellington"

ewllington10welilngton10welington9wellignton10wellinggton11wellingotn10wellingtno10wellingtonn11
Misspelling Variants of "Wellington"

Frequency rank: #9,420 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Wellington"?
"Wellington" is spelled W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈwɛlɪŋtən/.
What does "Wellington" mean?
As a name, "Wellington" means: The capital city of New Zealand in the Wellington region.
What words are commonly confused with "Wellington"?
"Wellington" is commonly confused with "Wilmington". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Wellington"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Wellington" is /ˈwɛlɪŋtən/. 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 "Wellington"?
From earlier Wēolingtūn, from: # For the place in Shropshire, England: Partly uncertain. The second element from Old English tūn (“estate”), while the first element could come either from *wœling (“ridge, bank”), or else from *wēoling (“device, ar... 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.

Nearby English words

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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.