intonation

/\ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\/ noun

Letters

10 characters

Frequency Rank

#32,865

in French word usage

Misspellings

14

tracked variants

Confusables

6

similar word pairs

intonation is aFrenchnoun. It means: Manière d’attaquer un son, un air. Pronounced \ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\. Often confused with invocation and intonations.

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)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for intonation is 10 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɛ̃.tɔ.na.sjɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #32,865 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 14 documented wrong-spelling variants for intonation, with forms such as "inntonation", "inotnation", and "intnoation". 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, "invocation", "intonations", "Intention", 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 intonation, spelled I-N-T-O-N-A-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
    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 ↘.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: inntonation,inotnation,intnoation,intoantion,intonaiton,intonatino,intonationn,intonatoin,intonattion,intonnation,intontaion,inttonation,itnonation,nitonation

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for intonation

Misspelling Variants of "intonation"

inntonation11inotnation10intnoation10intoantion10intonaiton10intonatino10intonationn11intonatoin10
Misspelling Variants of "intonation"

Frequency rank: #32,865 in French

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 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 I 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.