mellonvsmelonsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“mellon” and “melons” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,152
“mellon” frequency rank
#32,497
“melons” frequency rank
54649
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mellon melons
Definition The result of heptazine being polymerized with the tri-s-triazine units linked through an amine (NH) link. plural of melon

Where the eye mixes mellon and melons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mellon (CVCCVC) and melons (CVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
mellon
6 ch
melons

Look-alike desk: mellon vs melons

A purely visual mix-up. mellon (/ˈmɛlɒn/) and melons (/ˈmɛlənz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mellon is recorded at frequency rank #22,152, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛlɒn/. melons is at rank #32,497, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛlənz/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 54649, this pair ranks #139,463 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mellon vs melons

Shared letters: elmno. Private to "mellon": -. Private to "melons": s.

"mellon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "melons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mellon ← emllon · mellno · mellonn · meloln · mlelon · mmellon
  • melons ← emlons · mellons · melnos · melonns · melonss · melosn · meolns · mleons

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mellon" for "melons" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmɛlɒn/ versus /ˈmɛlənz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "mellon" or "melons" show up more?
"mellon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,152 in our English list, against #32,497 for "melons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mellon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "melons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #139,463 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mellon" and "melons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "melons vs Menon". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #139,463 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list