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PlainSpell

fallout

/ˈfɔlˌaʊt/noun

fallout is spelled F-A-L-L-O-U-T: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “fall-out vs fallout” about 10 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, fallout means “The event of small airborne particles falling to the ground in significant quantities as a result of major industrial activity, volcano eruption…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fallout is fallouts.

How many letters and syllables are in fallout?

Letters7: F-A-L-L-O-U-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.9 times per million words; the 11,373rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is fallout?

Fallout appears 4.9 times per million words in written English, the 11,373rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce fallout?

  • UK /ˈfɔːlaʊt/
  • US /ˈfɔlˌaʊt/

Fallout has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-fallout.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with fallout

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

fall-out vs fallout10 G

Also written: fall-out (one word or two).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with fallout?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as fallout (/ɔlaʊt/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: outfall.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of fallout

  • fallouts plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does fallout mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The event of small airborne particles falling to the ground in significant quantities as a result of major industrial activity, volcano eruption, sandstorm, nuclear explosion, etc.

  2. 2

    The particles themselves.

    On 26 April 1986 the reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located in the Soviet Union near Pripyat in Ukraine exploded. Further explosions and the resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosp

  3. 3

    A negative side effect; an undesirable or unexpected consequence.

    Psychological fallout in the shadow of terrorism

  4. 4

    rareA declined offer in a sales transaction when acceptance was presumed.

  5. 5

    rareThe person who declines such an offer.

  6. 6

    An impromptu guest used to fill in for another guest spot who is a no-show or who has cancelled last minute.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Fallout in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchretombées (event of airborne particles falling to the…), répercussions (negative side effect)
GermanNiederschlag, Niedersinken, Niedergehen, Herabrieseln, Ascheregen (event of airborne particles falling to the…), Fallout (particles that fall to the ground)
Portugueseprecipitação (event of airborne particles falling to the…)
Spanishlluvia, pluvia (event of airborne particles falling to the…), efectos colaterales, secuelas (negative side effect), ceniza, poso (particles that fall to the ground)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does fallout come from?

Deverbal from fall out; fall + out.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after fallout