cyclone
/ˈsaɪ.kloʊn/
"cyclone" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cyclone” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,732 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #14,732
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a centre of low atmospheric pressure; a low pressure system.
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 | cyclone |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsaɪ.kloʊn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #14,732 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cyclone” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cyclone is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsaɪ.kloʊn/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,732 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for cyclone, with forms such as "ccyclone", "ccylone", and "cycclone". 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 4 confusable-pair relationships, "cyclops", "cycle", "clone", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Coined by Henry Piddington, probably in the 1840s, and based on some term in Ancient Greek. Sources disagree on the date and on which Ancient Greek term, though it had to be something derived from either κύκλος (kúklos, “circle, wheel”) or κυκλόω (kuklóō, “… The correct English form is cyclone, spelled C-Y-C-L-O-N-E.
Definition
- 1Any weather phenomenon consisting of a system of winds rotating around a centre of low atmospheric pressure; a low pressure system.
- 2A tropical cyclone occurring in the South Pacific or Indian Ocean.
- 3The more or less violent, small-scale circulations such as tornadoes, waterspouts, and dust devils.
- 4A strong wind.
- 5A cyclone separator; the cylindrical vortex tube within such a separator
Etymology
Coined by Henry Piddington, probably in the 1840s, and based on some term in Ancient Greek. Sources disagree on the date and on which Ancient Greek term, though it had to be something derived from either κύκλος (kúklos, “circle, wheel”) or κυκλόω (kuklóō, “go around in a circle, form a circle, encircle”), for example the present active participle κυκλῶν (kuklôn). See cycle and wheel.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccyclone,ccylone,cycclone,cycllone,cyclnoe,cycloen,cyclonne,cycolne,cylcone,cyyclone,ycclone
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cyclone - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “cyclone”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-Y-C-L-O-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsaɪ.kloʊn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cyclops” - see the side-by-side comparison. cyclone vs cyclops
- 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.