ion
/ˈaɪən/
"ion" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ion” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,604 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,604
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An atom or group of atoms bearing an electrical charge, such as the sodium and chlorine atoms in a salt solution.
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 | ion |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈaɪən/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #5,604 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ion” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ion is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈaɪən/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,604 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "An atom or group of atoms bearing an electrical charge, such as the sodium and chlorine atoms in a salt solution.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ion, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "is", "it", "IV", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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. The correct English form is ion, spelled I-O-N.
Definition
- 1An atom or group of atoms bearing an electrical charge, such as the sodium and chlorine atoms in a salt solution.
Etymology
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.
This word in other languages
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 “ion”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈaɪən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “is” - see the side-by-side comparison. ion vs is
- 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.