distinction

/\dis.tɛ̃k.sjɔ̃\/ noun

Letters

11 characters

Frequency Rank

#4,227

in French word usage

Misspellings

17

tracked variants

Confusables

6

similar word pairs

distinction is aFrenchnoun. It means: Action de séparer nettement une chose d’une autre. Pronounced \dis.tɛ̃k.sjɔ̃\. It ranks #4,227 in French word frequency. Often confused with distraction and distinctive.

Key facts for distinction
PropertyValue
Headworddistinction
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\dis.tɛ̃k.sjɔ̃\
Letters11
Frequency rank#4,227
Misspellings tracked17
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of distinction in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for distinction is 11 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \dis.tɛ̃k.sjɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #4,227 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 17 documented wrong-spelling variants for distinction, with forms such as "ddistinction", "disitnction", and "disstinction". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "distraction", "distinctive", "distinctions", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is distinction, spelled D-I-S-T-I-N-C-T-I-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Action de séparer nettement une chose d’une autre.
  2. 2
    Indication, séparation des divers sens qu’une proposition peut recevoir.
  3. 3
    Opération de l’esprit par laquelle on distingue une chose d'une autre.
  4. 4
    Action de mettre une différence entre des personnes ou des choses, ou d’avoir égard à la différence qui est entre elles.
  5. 5
    Ce qui établit ou indique une différence entre des personnes ou des choses.
  6. 6
    Prérogative, honneur ou marque de préférence, d’estime ou d’égard.
  7. 7
    Bon ton, élégance ou dignité des manières.
  8. 8
    Processus de différenciation sociale par lequel des pratiques, goûts ou styles de vie servent à marquer des positions sociales.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ddistinction,disitnction,disstinction,disticntion,distincction,distinciton,distinctino,distinctionn,distinctoin,distincttion,distinnction,distintcion,distniction,disttinction,ditsinction,dsitinction,idstinction

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for distinction

Misspelling Variants of "distinction"

ddistinction12disitnction11disstinction12disticntion11distincction12distinciton11distinctino11distinctionn12
Misspelling Variants of "distinction"

Frequency rank: #4,227 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "distinction"?
"distinction" is spelled D-I-S-T-I-N-C-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \dis.tɛ̃k.sjɔ̃\.
What does "distinction" mean?
As a noun, "distinction" means: Action de séparer nettement une chose d’une autre.
What words are commonly confused with "distinction"?
"distinction" is commonly confused with "distraction", "distinctive", "distinctions". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "distinction"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "distinction" is \dis.tɛ̃k.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "distinction" come from?
"distinction" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 French words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.