lanthanum
/ˈlænθənəm/
"lanthanum" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lanthanum” is uncommon English (frequency #89,538 among 16,425 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #89,538
- frequency rank, English
- 16,425
- “L” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A chemical element (symbol La) with an atomic number of 57: a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal that tarnishes slowly when exposed to air.
Corpus desk
Index EN-lanthanum · lanthanum · English
lanthanum · rank #89,538 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #89,538
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 16,425
- PHOTO-FINISH Lateef
Nearest frequency peer: Lateef (+2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “lanthanum”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- kugel
kugel
10,469 corpus weight
- Kuntz
Kuntz
10,467 corpus weight
- lanthanum
lanthanum
10,463 corpus weight
- Lateef
Lateef
10,461 corpus weight
- Lauro
Lauro
10,460 corpus weight
- Letourneau
Letourneau
10,455 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “lanthanum” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lanthanum |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlænθənəm/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #89,538 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lanthanum” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
lanthanum is uncommon English at frequency #89,538 among 16,425 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈlænθənəm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for lanthanum in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Ancient Greek λανθάνω (lanthánō, “to escape notice”) + -um (“a chemical element”), because it had gone long undetected in mineral ores. The correct English form is lanthanum, spelled L-A-N-T-H-A-N-U-M.
Definition
- 1A chemical element (symbol La) with an atomic number of 57: a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal that tarnishes slowly when exposed to air.
- 2An atom of this element.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek λανθάνω (lanthánō, “to escape notice”) + -um (“a chemical element”), because it had gone long undetected in mineral ores.
Synonyms
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lanthanum", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.