pollution

\pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\

/\pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\/ noun

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

The verdict

“pollution” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #4,361. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#4,361
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Diffusion dans l’environnement d’un produit potentiellement toxique ou de nature à perturber le fonctionnement d’un biotope.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pollution · pollution · French

pollution · rank #4,361 · 11 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,361
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH permanente

Nearest frequency peer: permanente (-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 « pollution »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « pollution » 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).

pollution vs pollutions
90% similar

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

Key facts for pollution
PropertyValue
Headwordpollution
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\
Letters9
Frequency rank#4,361
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pollution »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).pollutionse place ici:

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

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « permanente » (#4,360), « portait » (#4,362), « ouverts » (#4,359). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pollution » est au #4,361. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around pollution (IPA \pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #4,361 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for pollution, with forms such as "opllution", "plolution", and "polltuion". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "pollutions", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is pollution, spelled P-O-L-L-U-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Diffusion dans l’environnement d’un produit potentiellement toxique ou de nature à perturber le fonctionnement d’un biotope.
  2. 2
    Tout phénomène extérieur qui peut être nuisible, dangereux pour la santé, ou désagréable.
  3. 3
    Émission involontaire de sperme.
  4. 4
    Profanation, souillure, péché d’impureté.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Il résulte, en effet, des études sur les pollutions des rivières anglaises récemment résumées par M. Frankland (Comptes rendus, tome LXX, p. 1054), que lorsque la température ne dépasse pas 17°,8. le parcours de trois à quatre lieues n’influe que médiocrement sur la combustion des matières dissoutes, et que même, après un parcours beaucoup plus prolongé,…
  2. La maladie de Minamata, c’est ce terrible fléau dû à la pollution par le mercure qui fit des milliers de victimes au Japon en 1950 et en 1965 : le monde entier a pu voir ces images de corps tordus d’enfants monstrueux dans les bras de leurs mères. Il y avait des cinéastes et des photographes au Japon. Il n’y en avait guère en Irak en 1956, au Pakistan en…

Synonyms

contamination

Antonyms

impollution

This word in other languages

pollution(English)contaminación(Español)Verschmutzung(Deutsch)poluição(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • opllution
  • plolution
  • polltuion
  • polluiton
  • pollutino
  • pollutionn
  • pollutoin
  • polluttion
  • polultion
  • polution
  • ppollution

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pollution - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

opllution2plolution2polltuion2polluiton2pollutino2pollutionn1pollutoin2polluttion1
Edit distance from "pollution"

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 "pollution"?
"pollution" is spelled P-O-L-L-U-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\.
What does "pollution" mean?
As a noun, "pollution" means: Diffusion dans l’environnement d’un produit potentiellement toxique ou de nature à perturber le fonctionnement d’un biotope.
What words are commonly confused with "pollution"?
"pollution" is commonly confused with "pollutions". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pollution"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pollution" is \pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pollution" come from?
"pollution" 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 "pollution", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

promesses#4,365provoquer#4,366regardant#4,369satisfait#4,375

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

négatif11 variantsjardins11 variantsitaliens11 variantsgratuite11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list