baton
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
5 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "baton", 5-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "baton" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "baton" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
baton is aEnglishnoun. It means: A staff or truncheon, used for various purposes. Pronounced /ˈbætɒn/. Often confused with BON and bats.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | baton |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbætɒn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,190 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for baton is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbætɒn/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,190 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for baton, with forms such as "abton", "baotn", and "batno". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "BON", "bats", "boon", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French bâton. Doublet of baston. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is baton, spelled B-A-T-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A staff or truncheon, used for various purposes.
- 2A ceremonial staff of a field marshal or a similar high-ranking military office.
- 3The stick of a conductor in musical performances.
- 4An object transferred by runners in a relay race.
- 5A rod twirled in a marching band's performance, in a gymnastic sport, or in juggling.
- 6A short stout club used primarily by policemen.
- 7A bend with the ends cut off, resembling a baton, typically borne sinister, and often used as a mark of cadency, initially for both legitimate and illegitimate children, but later chiefly for illegitimate children.
- 8A short vertical lightweight post, not set into the ground, used to separate wires in a fence.
- 9A batonnet, a long slice of a vegetable, thicker than a julienne.
- 10A short baguette.
Etymology
From French bâton. Doublet of baston.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abton,baotn,batno,batonn,batton,bbaton,btaon
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for baton
Misspelling Variants of "baton"
Frequency rank: #12,190 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter B in our English index: