citation
\si.ta.sjɔ̃\
The verdict
“citation” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #4,840 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #4,840
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Acte notifié à la partie qu’on veut obliger à comparaître devant un juge ou devant un tribunal.
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 | citation |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \si.ta.sjɔ̃\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #4,840 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “citation” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for citation is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \si.ta.sjɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #4,840 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for citation, with forms such as "ccitation", "ciattion", and "citaiton". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "cotation", "creation", "citations", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is citation, spelled C-I-T-A-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Acte notifié à la partie qu’on veut obliger à comparaître devant un juge ou devant un tribunal.
- 2Action de rapporter avec exactitude, oralement ou par écrit, les propos ou textes d'une personne.
- 3Passage écrit ou oral rapporté exactement.
- 4Mention honorifique accordée à un soldat pour faits d'armes.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccitation,ciattion,citaiton,citatino,citationn,citatoin,citattion,cittaion,cittation,ctiation,ictation
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of citation - 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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “citation”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-I-T-A-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \si.ta.sjɔ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cotation” - see the side-by-side comparison. citation vs cotation
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.