dandelion
/ˈdæn.dəˌlaɪ.ən/
"dandelion" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dandelion” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #32,757 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #32,757
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of the several species of plant in the genus Taraxacum, characterised by yellow flower heads and notched, broad-ended leaves, especially the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dandelion |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdæn.dəˌlaɪ.ən/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #32,757 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dandelion” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dandelion is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdæn.dəˌlaɪ.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #32,757 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 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 dandelion, with forms such as "adndelion", "dadnelion", and "danddelion". 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. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English dentdelyon, from Old French dent de lion (“lion's tooth”), also in Latin dēns leōnis, referring to the jagged shape of the plant's leaves. The term is now rare in French (together with liondent, calque from Germanic), but compare Spanish… The correct English form is dandelion, spelled D-A-N-D-E-L-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1Any of the several species of plant in the genus Taraxacum, characterised by yellow flower heads and notched, broad-ended leaves, especially the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).
- 2The flower head or fruiting head of the dandelion plant.
- 3A yellow colour, like that of the flower.
Etymology
From Middle English dentdelyon, from Old French dent de lion (“lion's tooth”), also in Latin dēns leōnis, referring to the jagged shape of the plant's leaves. The term is now rare in French (together with liondent, calque from Germanic), but compare Spanish diente de león, Portuguese dente-de-leão, Italian dente di leone, German Löwenzahn, Norwegian Bokmål løvetann, Welsh dant y llew, all descendants, calques, or loan translations of the Latin term.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: adndelion,dadnelion,danddelion,dandeilon,dandelino,dandelionn,dandellion,dandeloin,dandleion,danedlion,danndelion,ddandelion,dnadelion
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of dandelion - 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
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Using “dandelion”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-A-N-D-E-L-I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdæn.dəˌlaɪ.ən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.