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PlainSpell

iron

/ˈaɪ.ɚn/noun, adjective, verb

iron is spelled I-R-O-N: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 55 times per million words in written English, the 1,865th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, iron means “A common, inexpensive metal, silvery grey when untarnished, that rusts, is attracted by magnets, and is used in making steel: a chemical element…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of iron is irons.

How many letters and syllables are in iron?

Letters4: I-R-O-N
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing55 times per million words; the 1,865th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 iron?

Iron appears 55 times per million words in written English, the 1,865th 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 iron?

  • UK /ˈaɪ.ən/
  • British /ˈɑjən/
  • US /ˈaɪ.ɚn/

Iron 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Tesco250-iron.wav, En-us-iron.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-iron.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with iron

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

ion vs iron0 B

Sounds like: ion (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 iron?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as iron (/aɪəɹn/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: noir, nori, inro.

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 iron

  • irons plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • ironing participle, present
  • ironed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does iron mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A common, inexpensive metal, silvery grey when untarnished, that rusts, is attracted by magnets, and is used in making steel: a chemical element having atomic number 26 and symbol Fe.

    Today we studied about metals – including iron – at school.

  2. 2

    Any material, not a steel, predominantly made of elemental iron.

  3. 3

    A tool or appliance made of metal, which is heated and then used to transfer heat to something else; most often a thick piece of metal fitted with a handle and having a flat, roughly triangular bottom, which is heated and used to press wrinkles from clothing, and now usually containing an electrical heating apparatus.

  4. 4

    Any of several other tools traditionally made of wrought iron, now usually of steel.

  5. 5

    Shackles.

  6. 6

    slangA firearm, either a long gun or a handgun.

    It's many niggas now totin' iron.

  7. 7

    A dark shade of the color silver.

  8. 8

    offensiveslangA male homosexual.

adjective

  1. 1

    Made of the metal iron.

  2. 2

    Strong (as of will), inflexible.

    She had an iron will.

verb

  1. 1

    To pass an iron over (clothing or some other item made of cloth) in order to remove creases.

    You'd be wise to iron that shirt before you wear it.

  2. 2

    To engage in such pressing of clothing.

    They were washing and ironing all morning.

  3. 3

    archaicTo shackle with irons; to fetter or handcuff.

  4. 4

    To furnish, clad, or arm with iron.

    to iron a wagon

adjective

as Iron
  1. 1

    Of or pertaining to the Iron people.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Iron in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfer (chemical element Fe), de fer (symbol of great strength or toughness), repasser (to pass an iron over clothing)
GermanEisen (chemical element Fe), bügeln (to pass an iron over clothing), eisern (made of iron), in Eisen legen (to shackle with irons)
Portugueseferro (chemical element Fe), passar, passar a ferro (to pass an iron over clothing), de ferro, férreo (made of iron), ferrenho (strong, inflexible)
Spanishhierro, fierro (chemical element Fe), de hierro (symbol of great strength or toughness), férreo, férrico, ferroso (made of iron)

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 iron come from?

From Middle English iren, from Old English īsern, īsærn, īren, īsen, from Proto-West Germanic *īsarn, from Proto-Germanic *īsarną (“iron”), from Proto-Celtic *īsarnom (“iron”), possibly a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after iron