How to Spell Occassion or Occasion – Which is Correct?

Most people usually misspell words that have double letters. There are a lot of spellings in English that are commonly misspelled by either doubling the letter or leaving out a letter. Besides, people can get more confused with the words that have doubled letters in them. Two things that usually make people confused are occassion and occasion. So, which is the correct spelling? Is it occassion or  occasion?

The correct one between occassion and occasion is occasion, the one with single “s”. As for the occassion, the one with double “s”, it is incorrect. Not only that, it is not even a real word in English. Usually, people confuse these two due to the extra consonant “s”.

Actually, occassion is not the only misspelling of occasion. Apart from that, some other misspelled variations include ocassion, occation, and so on. As the correct word has the letter “c” doubled, it gets even more confusing whether to double the “s” or not as you type.

According to the statistics by the gingersoftware website, the word occasion is most commonly misspelled by the variation occassion with a rating of 17.5%. It is actually not surprising as many people confuse the double “s” between the “a” and “i”. This misspelled word is followed by occation with 8.6% among the users.

Talking about the English word occasion, it is originally from the Latin word “occasion”. The meaning of it is a favorable opportunity. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the word occasion has a few meanings, such as:

As a noun:

• A particular time, especially when something happens or has happened

Example:

• • We met on several occasions to discuss the issue.
  • I’ve heard him be rude to her on a number of occasions.
  • I seem to remember that on that occasion he was with his wife. 

• A special or formal event

Example:

• • Sara’s party was quite an occasion – there were over a hundred people there.
  •  At the wedding he sang a song specifically written for the occasion.
  • I have a suit but I only wear it on special occasions.
  • The coronation of a new king is, of course, a historic occasion.
  • Congratulations on the occasion of your wedding anniversary.

• An opportunity or reason for doing something or for something to happen

Example:

• • The 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death was the occasion for hundreds of special films, books and concerts.
  • An occasion may arise when you can use your knowledge of French.
  • The bride took/used the occasion to make a short speech.

• A particular time when something happens

Example:

• • Sarah loves dressing up for special occasions.
  • She has lied on several occasions.
  • This meeting provides an occasion (= a suitable time) to discuss the issues facing our school.

• A reason or cause

Example:

• •  I’ve never had occasion to worry about my children’s school work.

As a verb:

• To cause something

Example:

• • Her refusal occasioned a lot of trouble.
  • The case occasioned the authorities a lot of worry / The authorities were occasioned a lot of worry by the case.

Aside from the examples above, you may want to also check out some example sentences with the word occasion from publishing below:

1. I rise up and rise to the occasion in times like this. – From The Seattle Times
2. Not only did he fire, the suspect went down, came back up on three different occasions. – From CNN
3. He was also thrown out on three occasions. – From Los Angeles Times
4. It is a very, very saddening occasion to do that play. – From NPR
5. And they all rise to the occasion and become protective of him. – From NPR
6. This is a not a sad occasion for me. – From USA TODAY
7. At its core, marking occasions of great violence with such an act acknowledges a simple truth: oftentimes there just are no words to be said. – From TIME
8. Rise to the occasion and take good care of your sweet self. – From Huffington Post
9. I’m starting to wear out — like a car that needs servicing on occasion. – From Billboard
10. His children were sometimes on the receiving end, according to a close family friend who witnessed such occasions. – From Foreign Policy
11. Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction. – From ABC News
12. Have a dress on hand for the nicer occasions, and it doesn’t have to be black. – From Huffington Post

If the example sentences with the word occasion above are not enough, you can check out some more below:

1. What’s the occasion?
2. We’ve met on occasion.
3. It’ll be a big occasion.
4. We see them on occasion.
5. This is a happy occasion.
6. Weddings are usually happy occasions.
7. Tom only wears a suit on special occasions.
8. He was excited to see her dressed up for the occasion.
9. Moulds have been isolated which occasion the formation of citric acid from glucose.
10. He would often say the exact opposite of what he had said on a previous occasion, yet both would be right.
11. This is the kind of place people come for a special occasion.
12. As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.
13. On the 26th of June 1657 he was once more installed as Protector, this time, however, with regal ceremony in contrast with the simple formalities observed on the first occasion, the heralds proclaiming his accession in the same manner as that of the kings.

There are several idioms and phrases with occasions that are frequently used. These include:

• On occasion: It means sometimes or not so often.
  Example: We visit our village on occasion.
• Rise to the occasion: It means outperform oneself in a specific event or perform well despite adversity.
  Example: The team rose to the occasion after they qualified for the semi-final.