apportion
/əˈpɔːʃən/
"apportion" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“apportion” is an uncommon English word, ranked #74,726 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #74,726
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To divide and distribute portions of a whole.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | apportion |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /əˈpɔːʃən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #74,726 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “apportion” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for apportion is 9 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈpɔːʃən/. Corpus data places it at rank #74,726 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for apportion in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French apportionner, from Old French aporcioner, from Late Latin apportionare, from Latin ad + portio. See portion. The correct English form is apportion, spelled A-P-P-O-R-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1To divide and distribute portions of a whole.
- 2Specifically, to do so in a fair and equitable manner; to allocate proportionally.
Etymology
From Middle French apportionner, from Old French aporcioner, from Late Latin apportionare, from Latin ad + portio. See portion.
This word in other languages
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 "apportion"?
What does "apportion" mean?
How do you pronounce "apportion"?
What is the origin of the word "apportion"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “apportion”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-P-P-O-R-T-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈpɔːʃən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.