lone
/loʊn/adjective, verb
lone is spelled L-O-N-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,146th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “loan vs lone” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, lone means “Solitary; having no companion” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in lone?
| Letters | 4: L-O-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 8.1 times per million words; the 8,146th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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 lone?
Lone appears 8.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,146th 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 lone?
- UK /ləʊn/
- US /loʊn/
Lone 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-lone.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with lone
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: loan (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 lone?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as lone from its last stressed vowel (/oʊn/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: noel, leno, enol.
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 lone
- lones present, singular, he/she/it
- loning participle, present
- loned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lone mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Solitary; having no companion.
a lone traveler or watcher
- 2
Isolated or lonely; lacking companionship.
- 3
Sole; being the only one of a type.
the lone male audience member at the concert
- 4
Situated by itself or by oneself, with no neighbours.
a lone house; a lone isle
- 5
archaicUnfrequented by human beings; solitary.
- 6
archaicSingle; unmarried, or in widowhood.
Queen Elizabeth being a lone woman.
- 7
Not divided into multiple districts.
lone congressional district
verb
- 1
Only used in lone it
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Lone in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 lone come from?
Shortened from alone.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).