antiphon

/ˈæntɪfən/

//ˈæntɪfən// noun

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

"antiphon" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“antiphon” is uncommon English (frequency #90,144 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#90,144
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A devotional chant; a piece of music sung responsively.

Corpus desk

Index EN-antiphon · antiphon · English

antiphon · rank #90,144 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #90,144
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH anticlimax

Nearest frequency peer: anticlimax (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

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.

Long-tail ranks near “antiphon”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “antiphon” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for antiphon
PropertyValue
Headwordantiphon
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈæntɪfən/
Letters8
Frequency rank#90,144
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “antiphon” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).antiphonfalls in this rarity band:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “anticlimax” (#90,143), “Aoun” (#90,146), “APGAR” (#90,147). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “antiphon” is #90,144. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

antiphon is uncommon English at frequency #90,144 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈæntɪfən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for antiphon in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French antiphone or Medieval Latin antiphōna, from Ancient Greek ἀντίφωνα (antíphōna, “responses, musical accords”), neuter plural substantive of ἀντίφωνος (antíphōnos, “concordant”) from ἀντί (antí, “in return”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”). Doublet of ant… The correct English form is antiphon, spelled A-N-T-I-P-H-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A devotional chant; a piece of music sung responsively.
  2. 2
    A response or reply.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Father Vaillant came back in his vestments, with his pyx and basin of holy water, and began sprinkling the bed and the watchers, repeating the antiphon, Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo, et mundabor.
  2. The Clown […] says: ‘And so we wept; and there was the first gentleman-like tears that ever we shed’; to which his father, the Shepherd, adds the comfortable antiphon, ‘We may live, son, to shed many more.’

Etymology

From French antiphone or Medieval Latin antiphōna, from Ancient Greek ἀντίφωνα (antíphōna, “responses, musical accords”), neuter plural substantive of ἀντίφωνος (antíphōnos, “concordant”) from ἀντί (antí, “in return”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”). Doublet of anthem.

This word in other languages

antífona(Español)antienne(Français)

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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "antiphon"?
"antiphon" is spelled A-N-T-I-P-H-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈæntɪfən/.
What does "antiphon" mean?
As a noun, "antiphon" means: A devotional chant; a piece of music sung responsively.
How do you pronounce "antiphon"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "antiphon" is /ˈæntɪfən/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "antiphon"?
From French antiphone or Medieval Latin antiphōna, from Ancient Greek ἀντίφωνα (antíphōna, “responses, musical accords”), neuter plural substantive of ἀντίφωνος (antíphōnos, “concordant”) from ἀντί (antí, “in return”) + φωνή (phōnḗ, “sound”). Doub... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "antiphon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Anscombe#90,138backlink#90,171beatific#90,187becalmed#90,189

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list