disown
/dɪsˈəʊn/
"disown" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“disown” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #40,659 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #40,659
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To refuse to own, or to refuse to acknowledge one’s own.
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 | disown |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /dɪsˈəʊn/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #40,659 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “disown” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for disown is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dɪsˈəʊn/. Corpus data places it at rank #40,659 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 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for disown, with forms such as "ddisown", "dioswn", and "disonw". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "down", "Dixon", "drown", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From dis- + own. The correct English form is disown, spelled D-I-S-O-W-N.
Definition
- 1To refuse to own, or to refuse to acknowledge one’s own.
- 2To repudiate any connection to; to renounce.
- 3To detach (a job or process) so that it can continue to run even when the user who launched it ends his/her login session.
Etymology
From dis- + own.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddisown,dioswn,disonw,disownn,disowwn,dissown,diswon,dsiown,idsown
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of disown - 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 “disown”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-I-S-O-W-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dɪsˈəʊn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “down” - see the side-by-side comparison. disown vs down
- 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.