motivation

\mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\

/\mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“motivation” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,512. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,512
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Désir ou volonté spontanés.

Corpus desk

Index FR-motivation · motivation · French

motivation · rank #4,512 · 14 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,512
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH modifications

Nearest frequency peer: modifications (-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 « motivation »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « motivation » 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).

motivation vs mutilation
80% similar
motivation vs motivations
91% similar

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

Key facts for motivation
PropertyValue
Headwordmotivation
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\
Letters10
Frequency rank#4,512
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « motivation »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).motivationse 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 « modifications » (#4,511), « noble » (#4,513), « miracle » (#4,510). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « motivation » est au #4,512. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around motivation (IPA \mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,512 among 5,038 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for motivation, with forms such as "mmotivation", "moitvation", and "motiavtion". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "mutilation", "motivations", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is motivation, spelled M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Désir ou volonté spontanés.
  2. 2
    Justification fournissant un motif.
  3. 3
    Relation, lien entre un signe et la réalité qu'il désigne, entre le signifiant et le signifié.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. La motivation qui pousse à se tuer et donc à tuer ses propres divinités est plus grave, karmiquement, que la motivation qui conduit à tuer une autre personne ([…])
  2. Le diagnostic différentiel de l’apathie et de la dépression reste un véritable défi lancé au clinicien, certains symptômes étant communs, le manque de motivation en particulier. Les bases neuro-biologiques de la motivation impliquent le système dopaminergique avec ses projections sur le cortex, le noyau accumbens et l’amygdale, et la maladie de Parkinson…

This word in other languages

motivation(English)motivación(Español)Motivation(Deutsch)motivação(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • mmotivation
  • moitvation
  • motiavtion
  • motivaiton
  • motivatino
  • motivationn
  • motivatoin
  • motivattion
  • motivtaion
  • motivvation
  • mottivation
  • motviation
  • mtoivation
  • omtivation

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of motivation - 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.

mmotivation1moitvation2motiavtion2motivaiton2motivatino2motivationn1motivatoin2motivattion1
Edit distance from "motivation"

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 "motivation"?
"motivation" is spelled M-O-T-I-V-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\.
What does "motivation" mean?
As a noun, "motivation" means: Désir ou volonté spontanés.
What words are commonly confused with "motivation"?
"motivation" is commonly confused with "mutilation", "motivations". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "motivation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "motivation" is \mɔ.ti.va.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "motivation" come from?
"motivation" 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 "motivation", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

proportion#4,522présentant#4,523recommande#4,524écologique#4,540

Similar misspelling depth

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

domination14 variantsconstante14 variantscommerciaux14 variantscentrales14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list