filament
/ˈfɪləmənt/
"filament" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“filament” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #25,761 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #25,761
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A fine thread or wire.
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 | filament |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɪləmənt/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #25,761 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “filament” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for filament is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɪləmənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #25,761 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for filament, with forms such as "ffilament", "fialment", and "filaemnt". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "firmament", "figment", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Medieval Latin fīlāmentum, from Late Latin fīlō (“to spin, draw out in a long line”), from Latin fīlum (“thread”). The correct English form is filament, spelled F-I-L-A-M-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1A fine thread or wire.
- 2Such a wire, as can be heated until it glows, in an incandescent light bulb or a thermionic valve.
- 3A massive, thread-like structure, such as those gaseous ones which extend outward from the surface of the sun, or such as those (much larger) ones which form the boundaries between large voids in the universe.
- 4The stalk of a flower stamen, supporting the anther.
- 5A continuous object, limited in length only by its spool, and not cut to length.
- 6A continuous object, limited in length only by its spool, and not cut to length.
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin fīlāmentum, from Late Latin fīlō (“to spin, draw out in a long line”), from Latin fīlum (“thread”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffilament,fialment,filaemnt,filamennt,filamentt,filametn,filamment,filamnet,fillament,filmaent,fliament,iflament
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of filament - 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 “filament”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-I-L-A-M-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɪləmənt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “firmament” - see the side-by-side comparison. filament vs firmament
- 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.