champion
/ˈt͡ʃæm.pi.ən/
"champion" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“champion” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,381 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,381
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An ongoing winner in a game or contest.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | champion |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈt͡ʃæm.pi.ən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #2,381 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “champion” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for champion is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈt͡ʃæm.pi.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,381 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for champion, with forms such as "cahmpion", "cchampion", and "chamipon". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "Chapin", "campion", "champaign", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em-der. Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ém-po-s Proto-Italic *kampos Latin campusbor. Frankish *kamp Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Frankish *-jan Frankish *kampijan Proto-Germanic *-jô Frankish *-jō Frankish… The correct English form is champion, spelled C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1An ongoing winner in a game or contest.
- 2Someone who is chosen to represent a group of people in a contest.
- 3Someone who fights for a cause or status.
- 4Someone who fights on another's behalf.
- 5A particularly notable member of a plant species, such as one of great size.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em-der. Proto-Indo-European *kh₂ém-po-s Proto-Italic *kampos Latin campusbor. Frankish *kamp Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Germanic *-janą Frankish *-jan Frankish *kampijan Proto-Germanic *-jô Frankish *-jō Frankish *kampijōbor. Medieval Latin campiō Old French champiunbor. Middle English champioun English champion From Middle English champioun, from Old French champion, from Medieval Latin campio (“combatant in a duel, champion”), from Frankish *kampijō (“fighter”), from Proto-West Germanic *kampijō (“combat soldier”), a derivative of *kampijan (“to battle, to campaign”), itself a derivative of *kamp (“battlefield, battle”), ultimately a borrowing in West-Germanic from Latin campus (“a field, a plain, a place of action”). By surface analysis champ + -ion. Cognate with Old English cæmpa, cempa (“soldier, warrior, champion”), Old High German kempfeo, kempfo (“fighter, warrior, champion”), whence archaic German Kempfe (“fighter”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cahmpion,cchampion,chamipon,chammpion,champino,championn,champoin,champpion,chapmion,chhampion,chmapion,hcampion
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of champion - 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.
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 "champion"?
What does "champion" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "champion"?
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Using “champion”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈt͡ʃæm.pi.ən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Chapin” - see the side-by-side comparison. champion vs Chapin
- 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.