ballon

/bəˈlɒn/

//bəˈlɒn// noun

"ballon" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ballon” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #32,289. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#32,289
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The quality of a jump by which a ballet dancer appears to pause in midair

Corpus desk

Index EN-ballon · ballon · English

ballon · rank #32,289 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #32,289
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH balding

Nearest frequency peer: balding (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “ballon”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “ballon” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ballon vs balls
67% similar
ballon vs baron
67% similar
ballon vs baton
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ballon
PropertyValue
Headwordballon
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bəˈlɒn/
Letters6
Frequency rank#32,289
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “ballon”

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).ballonlands 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 “balding” (#32,288), “banding” (#32,290), “Babel” (#32,287). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “ballon” is #32,289. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around ballon (IPA /bəˈlɒn/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #32,289 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for ballon, with forms such as "abllon", "ballno", and "ballonn". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "balls", "baron", "baton", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French ballon. Doublet of balloon. The correct English form is ballon, spelled B-A-L-L-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    The quality of a jump by which a ballet dancer appears to pause in midair
  2. 2
    Synonym of balloon (“type of glass for wine etc”).

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Tall and slender, with a superb ballon and effortless flight in air, Malakhov […] will unquestionably have an extraordinary career.

Etymology

From French ballon. Doublet of balloon.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • abllon
  • ballno
  • ballonn
  • baloln
  • balon
  • bballon
  • blalon

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ballon - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

abllon2ballno2ballonn1baloln2balon1bballon1blalon2
Edit distance from "ballon"

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 "ballon"?
"ballon" is spelled B-A-L-L-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /bəˈlɒn/.
What does "ballon" mean?
As a noun, "ballon" means: The quality of a jump by which a ballet dancer appears to pause in midair
What words are commonly confused with "ballon"?
"ballon" is commonly confused with "balls", "baron", "baton". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ballon"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ballon" is /bəˈlɒn/. 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 "ballon"?
From French ballon. Doublet of balloon. 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 "ballon", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list