mastodon
/ˈmæs.tə.dɒn/
"mastodon" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“mastodon” is an uncommon English word, ranked #50,061 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #50,061
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Extinct elephant-like mammal of the genus †Mammut that flourished worldwide from Miocene through Pleistocene times; differs from elephants and mammoths in the form of the molar teeth.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mastodon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmæs.tə.dɒn/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #50,061 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “mastodon” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mastodon is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmæs.tə.dɒn/. Corpus data places it at rank #50,061 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
mastodon doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested 1813, from translingual Mastodon (1806), coined by French naturalist Georges Cuvier, from masto- (“breast”) + -odon (“tooth”), due to the mammilloid (“nipple-shaped”) projections on the crowns of the extinct mammal's molars. The correct English form is mastodon, spelled M-A-S-T-O-D-O-N.
Definition
- 1Extinct elephant-like mammal of the genus †Mammut that flourished worldwide from Miocene through Pleistocene times; differs from elephants and mammoths in the form of the molar teeth.
- 2Anything awkwardly large or unwieldy.
Etymology
First attested 1813, from translingual Mastodon (1806), coined by French naturalist Georges Cuvier, from masto- (“breast”) + -odon (“tooth”), due to the mammilloid (“nipple-shaped”) projections on the crowns of the extinct mammal's molars.
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 “mastodon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-S-T-O-D-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmæs.tə.dɒn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.