balloon
bal·loon/bəˈlun/noun, verb
balloon is spelled B-A-L-L-O-O-N, 2 syllables: bal·loon. The wrong spelling people search most is baloon: about 880 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Balloon is a noun meaning “An inflatable buoyant object, often (but not necessarily) round and flexible”. The plural of balloon is balloons.
How many letters and syllables are in balloon?
| Letters | 7: B-A-L-L-O-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: bal·loon |
| In writing | 7.9 times per million words; the 8,266th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, baloon, about 880 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 balloon?
Balloon is spelled B-A-L-L-O-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for balloon 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 balloon?
Balloon appears 7.9 times per million words in written English, the 8,266th 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 balloon?
- UK /bəˈluːn/
- British /bəˈlʉwn/
- US /bəˈlun/
Balloon has 2 syllables, split bal·loon in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-balloon.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with balloon?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as balloon from its last stressed vowel (/un/):
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 balloon
- balloons plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- ballooning participle, present
- ballooned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does balloon mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An inflatable buoyant object, often (but not necessarily) round and flexible.
- 2
Such an object as a child’s toy or party decoration.
- 3
Such an object designed to transport people or equipment through the air.
- 4
A sac inserted into part of the body for therapeutic reasons; such as angioplasty.
- 5
A speech bubble.
- 6
A wide rounded glass with a stem and foot, used for wine, brandy, etc.
- 7
A ball or globe on the top of a pillar, church, etc.
the balloon of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London
- 8
A round vessel, usually with a short neck, to hold or receive whatever is distilled; a glass vessel of a spherical form.
verb
- 1
To increase or expand rapidly.
His stomach ballooned from eating such a large meal.
- 2
To go up or voyage in a balloon.
- 3
To take up in, or as if in, a balloon.
- 4
To inflate like a balloon.
- 5
To strike (a ball) so that it flies high in the air.
After four minutes, leading goalscorer Haworth slid in but ballooned the ball over from six yards, and Hume then outran the defence to get to the by-line, but he could only hit his cross straight out.
- 6
Of an aircraft: to plunge alternately up and down.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate balloon?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of balloon: loon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Balloon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ballon , ballon de baudruche, ballon en baudruche, ballon gonflable , montgolfière |
| German | Ballon, Luftballon , Heißluftballon |
| Portuguese | balão, bexiga |
| Spanish | globo, vejiga , bomba, chimbomba |
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 balloon come from?
First use appears c. 1591, "a game played with a large, inflated leather ball" (possibly via Middle French ballon) from Italian pallone (“large ball”) from palla (“ball”), from Lombardic *palla.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).