illusion
[ɪˈluː.ʒən]noun
illusion is spelled I-L-L-U-S-I-O-N. The wrong spelling people search most is illution: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 108 of all searches for the word. Illusion is a noun meaning “A distortion of sensory perception where real stimuli lead to a false or misleading impression of reality”. The plural of illusion is illusions.
How many letters and syllables are in illusion?
| Letters | 8: I-L-L-U-S-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.7 times per million words; the 7,797th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, illution, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
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 do you spell illusion?
Illusion is spelled I-L-L-U-S-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 107 of the searches for illusion in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is illusion?
Illusion appears 8.7 times per million words in written English, the 7,797th 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 illusion?
- UK /ɪˈl(j)uːʒ(ə)n/
- US [ɪˈluː.ʒən]
- UK /ɪˈl(j)uːzj(ə)n/
Illusion has 3 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: En-us-illusion.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with illusion
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with illusion?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as illusion from its last stressed vowel (/uʒn/, British pronunciation):
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 illusion
- illusions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does illusion mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A distortion of sensory perception where real stimuli lead to a false or misleading impression of reality.
We saw what looked like a tiger among the trees, but it was an illusion caused by the shadows of the branches.
- 2
A misapprehension; a belief in something that is in fact not true.
Jane has this illusion that John is in love with her.
- 3
A magician’s trick.
- 4
The state of being deceived or misled.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Illusion in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | illusion |
| German | Illusion, Wahnvorstellung, Sinnestäuschung |
| Portuguese | ilusão , truque de mágica |
| Spanish | ilusión |
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 illusion come from?
From Old French illusion, from Latin illūsiō, from illūdere, from in- (“at, upon”) + lūdere (“to play, mock, trick”). Displaced native Old English dwimmer.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).