intonation

\ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\

/\ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“intonation” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #32,865. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#32,865
frequency rank, French
3,561
“I” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Manière d’attaquer un son, un air.

Corpus desk

Index FR-intonation · intonation · French

intonation · rank #32,865 · 14 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #32,865
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,561
  • PHOTO-FINISH interchangeab…

Nearest frequency peer: interchangeables (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « intonation »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « intonation » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

intonation vs invocation
80% similar
intonation vs intonations
91% similar
intonation vs Intention
70% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for intonation
PropertyValue
Headwordintonation
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\
Letters10
Frequency rank#32,865
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « intonation »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.intonationse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « interchangeables » (#32,864), « irradiation » (#32,866), « intentionnel » (#32,863). Parmi 3,561 lemmes en « I », « intonation » est au #32,865. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around intonation (IPA \ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #32,865 among 3,561 “I” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for intonation, with forms such as "inntonation", "inotnation", and "intnoation". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "invocation", "intonations", "Intention", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is intonation, spelled I-N-T-O-N-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Manière d’attaquer un son, un air.
  2. 2
    Action de mettre un chant sur le ton dans lequel il doit être, en parlant du plain-chant.
  3. 3
    Justesse d’une note chantée ou jouée.
  4. 4
    Ton que l’on prend en parlant ou en lisant.
  5. 5
    Changement de hauteur de la voix pour signaler l’état d’esprit du locuteur comme une interrogation mais pas pour distinguer des mots comme les tons. Indiqué par ↗ ou ↘.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how intonation appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Jamais ni la Malibran, ni la Pasta n'avaient fait entendre des chants si parfaits de sentiment et d'intonation ; […].
  2. Et sa voix alors prenait une intonation dolente et uniforme, enflant les mots, appuyant indéfiniment sur les syllabes. Cela m’agaçait beaucoup.

This word in other languages

intonation(English)entonación(Español)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • inntonation
  • inotnation
  • intnoation
  • intoantion
  • intonaiton
  • intonatino
  • intonationn
  • intonatoin
  • intonattion
  • intonnation
  • intontaion
  • inttonation
  • itnonation
  • nitonation

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of intonation - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

inntonation1inotnation2intnoation2intoantion2intonaiton2intonatino2intonationn1intonatoin2
Edit distance from "intonation"

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

How do you spell "intonation"?
"intonation" is spelled I-N-T-O-N-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\.
What does "intonation" mean?
As a noun, "intonation" means: Manière d’attaquer un son, un air.
What words are commonly confused with "intonation"?
"intonation" is commonly confused with "invocation", "intonations", "Intention". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "intonation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "intonation" is \ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "intonation" come from?
"intonation" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "intonation", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

incertains#32,853Lanaudière#32,878Heidelberg#32,843maléfiques#32,891

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

indécence14 variantshyperbole14 variantsmangeaient14 variantsgrandioses14 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list