apportion

/əˈpɔːʃən/

//əˈpɔːʃən// verb

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

"apportion" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“apportion” is uncommon English (frequency #74,726 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#74,726
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To divide and distribute portions of a whole.

Corpus desk

Index EN-apportion · apportion · English

apportion · rank #74,726 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #74,726
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH apatite

Nearest frequency peer: apatite (-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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “apportion”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “apportion” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for apportion
PropertyValue
Headwordapportion
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/əˈpɔːʃən/
Letters9
Frequency rank#74,726
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “apportion” sits in English frequency

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).apportionlands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “apatite” (#74,725), “antipodes” (#74,724), “arad” (#74,728). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

apportion is uncommon English at frequency #74,726 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /əˈpɔːʃən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

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

  1. 1
    To divide and distribute portions of a whole.
  2. 2
    Specifically, to do so in a fair and equitable manner; to allocate proportionally.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. The controlling party had apportioned the voting districts such that their party would be favored in the next election.
  2. The children were required to dump all of their Halloween candy on the table so that their parents could apportion it among them.

Etymology

From Middle French apportionner, from Old French aporcioner, from Late Latin apportionare, from Latin ad + portio. See portion.

Synonyms

allocateallotdispenseparcel outshare out

Antonyms

amassconcentrateconsolidategatherreassemble

This word in other languages

distribuir(Español)partager(Français)aufteilen(Deutsch)repartir(Português)

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"?
"apportion" is spelled A-P-P-O-R-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈpɔːʃən/.
What does "apportion" mean?
As a verb, "apportion" means: To divide and distribute portions of a whole.
How do you pronounce "apportion"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "apportion" is /əˈpɔːʃən/. 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 "apportion"?
From Middle French apportionner, from Old French aporcioner, from Late Latin apportionare, from Latin ad + portio. See portion. 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 "apportion", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

antipodes#74,724amidships#74,719Aitchison#74,709abductors#74,700

What to do next

You've looked up "apportion". Here's where to go from here.

  • Usage frequency rank #74,726 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
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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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list