loan
/loʊn/noun, verb
loan is spelled L-O-A-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 48 times per million words in written English, the 2,113th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “loan vs lone” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, loan means “An act or instance of lending, an act or instance of granting something for temporary use” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of loan is loans.
How many letters and syllables are in loan?
| Letters | 4: L-O-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 48 times per million words; the 2,113th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); 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 loan?
Loan appears 48 times per million words in written English, the 2,113th 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 loan?
- UK /ləʊn/
- US /loʊn/
Loan has one syllable (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-loan.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with loan
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: lone (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 loan?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as loan from its last stressed vowel (/oʊn/):
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 loan
- loans plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- loaning participle, present
- loaned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does loan mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An act or instance of lending, an act or instance of granting something for temporary use.
Because of the loan that John made to me, I was able to pay my tuition for the upcoming semester.
- 2
A sum of money or other property that a natural or legal person borrows from another with the condition that it be returned or repaid over time or at a later date (sometimes with interest).
All loans from the library, whether books or audio material, must be returned within two weeks.
- 3
The contract and array of legal or ethical obligations surrounding a loan.
He made a payment on his loan.
- 4
The permission to borrow any item.
Thank you for the loan of your lawn mower.
- 5
ScotlandAn area of uncultivated ground near a village or farmhouse.
the Loan of Turchloy, the Black Loan
verb
- 1
USinformalTo lend (something) to (someone).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Loan in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prêt, emprunt, crédit , contrat de prêt , prêter |
| German | Anleihe, Darlehen, Kredit , Darlehensvertrag , ausleihen, leihen |
| Portuguese | empréstimo , emprestar |
| Spanish | préstamo, empréstito , avío , prestar, acreer |
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 loan come from?
From Middle English lone, lane, from Old Norse lán, from Proto-Germanic *laihną, from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ- (“to leave (over)”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).