companion
/kəmˈpæn.jən/
"companion" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“companion” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,772 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,772
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A friend, acquaintance, or partner; someone with whom one spends time or accompanies
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 | companion |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kəmˈpæn.jən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #5,772 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “companion” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for companion is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kəmˈpæn.jən/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,772 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for companion, with forms such as "ccompanion", "cmopanion", and "comapnion". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "comparison", "compassion", "companions", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English companion, from Old French compaignon (“companion”) (modern French compagnon), from Late Latin compāniōn- (nominative singular compāniō, whence French copain), from com- + pānis (literally, with + bread), a word first attested in the Fra… The correct English form is companion, spelled C-O-M-P-A-N-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1A friend, acquaintance, or partner; someone with whom one spends time or accompanies
- 2A person employed to accompany or travel with another.
- 3The framework on the quarterdeck of a sailing ship through which daylight entered the cabins below.
- 4The covering of a hatchway on an upper deck which leads to the companionway; the stairs themselves.
- 5A knot in whose neighborhood another, specified knot meets every meridian disk.
- 6A thing or phenomenon that is closely associated with another thing, phenomenon, or person.
- 7An appended source of media or information, designed to be used in conjunction with and to enhance the main material.
- 8A celestial object that is associated with another.
- 9A knight of the lowest rank in certain orders.
- 10A fellow; a rogue.
Etymology
From Middle English companion, from Old French compaignon (“companion”) (modern French compagnon), from Late Latin compāniōn- (nominative singular compāniō, whence French copain), from com- + pānis (literally, with + bread), a word first attested in the Frankish Lex Salica as a calque of a Germanic word, probably Frankish *galaibo, *gahlaibō (“messmate”, literally “with-bread”), from Proto-Germanic *gahlaibô. Compare also Old High German galeipo (“messmate”) and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌱𐌰 (gahlaiba, “messmate”); and, for the semantics, compare Old Armenian ընկեր (ənker, “friend”, literally “messmate”). More at co-, loaf. Displaced native Old English ġefēra (literally “fellow traveler”). Compare company and mate.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccompanion,cmopanion,comapnion,commpanion,compainon,companino,companionn,compannion,companoin,compnaion,comppanion,copmanion,ocmpanion
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of companion - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "companion"?
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Using “companion”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-M-P-A-N-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəmˈpæn.jən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “comparison” - see the side-by-side comparison. companion vs comparison
- 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.