allusion
/əˈlu.ʒən/noun
allusion is spelled A-L-L-U-S-I-O-N. The wrong spelling people search most is alusion: about 80 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 69 of all searches for the word. Allusion is a noun meaning “An indirect reference; a hint; a reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned”. The plural of allusion is allusions.
How many letters and syllables are in allusion?
| Letters | 8: A-L-L-U-S-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 31,168th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, alusion, about 80 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell allusion?
Allusion is spelled A-L-L-U-S-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 70 of the searches for allusion in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is allusion?
Allusion appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 31,168th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce allusion?
- US /əˈlu.ʒən/
Allusion has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-allusion.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with allusion
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with allusion?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as allusion from its last stressed vowel (/uʒən/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of allusion
- allusions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does allusion mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An indirect reference; a hint; a reference to something supposed to be known, but not explicitly mentioned.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Allusion in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense indirect reference, hint:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | allusion |
| German | Anspielung, Allusion |
| Portuguese | alusão |
| Spanish | alusión |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does allusion come from?
From Latin allūsiōnem, accusative singular of allūsiō (“the act of playing with”), from allūdō (“play with; allude”), from al-, combining form of ad (“to”), + lūdō (“play”): compare French allusion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).