ion
/ˈaɪ.ɑn/noun, phrase
ion is spelled I-O-N: 3 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,595th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ion means “An atom or group of atoms bearing an electrical charge, such as the sodium and chlorine atoms in a salt solution” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ion is ions.
How many letters and syllables are in ion?
| Letters | 3: I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 14 times per million words; the 5,595th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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 ion?
Ion appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,595th 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 ion?
- UK /ˈaɪən/
- UK /ˈaɪ.ɒn/
- US /ˈaɪ.ɑn/
As a phrase (“I don't”): /ˈaɪˌoʊn/.
Ion 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: En-us-ion.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with ion
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: iron (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with ion?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as ion (/aɪɑn/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: oni.
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 ion
- ions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ion mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An atom or group of atoms bearing an electrical charge, such as the sodium and chlorine atoms in a salt solution.
phrase
- 1
slangI don't.
ion know what 2 do
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ion in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense atom or group of atoms bearing an electrical charge:
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 ion come from?
From the ending of anion and cation, which in turn is from Ancient Greek ἰόν (ión, “going”), neuter present participle of εἶμι (eîmi, “I go”). Coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1834 for Michael Faraday, who introduced it later that year.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).