inversion
/ɪnˈvɚ.ʒən/noun
inversion is spelled I-N-V-E-R-S-I-O-N: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,629th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, inversion means “The action of inverting” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of inversion is inversions.
How many letters and syllables are in inversion?
| Letters | 9: I-N-V-E-R-S-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.8 times per million words; the 20,629th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is inversion?
Inversion appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,629th 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 inversion?
- US /ɪnˈvɚ.ʒən/
- UK /ɪnˈvɜː.ʃən/
Inversion 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-inversion.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with inversion?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as inversion from its last stressed vowel (/əɹʒən/):
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 inversion
- inversions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does inversion mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The action of inverting.
- 2
The act of being in an inverted state; being upside down, inside out, or in a reverse sequence.
- 3
The reversal of an interval; the move of one pitch in an interval up or down an octave.
- 4
The position of a chord which has a note other than the root as its bass note.
- 5
The flipping of a melody or contrapuntal line so that high notes become low and vice versa; the reversal of a pitch contour.
- 6
A segment of DNA in the context of a chromosome that is reversed in orientation relative to a reference karyotype or genome.
- 7
A situation where air temperature increases with altitude (the ground being colder than the surrounding air).
- 8
A section of a roller coaster where passengers are temporarily turned upside down.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Inversion in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | inversion , renversement |
| Spanish | invertimiento , inversión |
| German | Inversion |
| Portuguese | inversão |
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 inversion come from?
From Latin inversiōnem.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).