megaton

/ˈmɛɡəˌtʌn/

//ˈmɛɡəˌtʌn// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"megaton" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“megaton” is uncommon English (frequency #64,532 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,532
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A measure of the strength of an explosion or a bomb based on how many million tons of TNT would be needed to produce the same energy. (A derived unit for TNT equivalent.)

Corpus desk

Index EN-megaton · megaton · English

megaton · rank #64,532 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,532
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH medio

Nearest frequency peer: medio (-1 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.

Long-tail ranks near “megaton”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “megaton” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for megaton
PropertyValue
Headwordmegaton
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmɛɡəˌtʌn/
Letters7
Frequency rank#64,532
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “megaton” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).megatonfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “medio” (#64,531), “mell” (#64,533), “Meacham” (#64,530). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “megaton” is #64,532. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

megaton is uncommon English at frequency #64,532 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmɛɡəˌtʌn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for megaton in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From mega- + ton. The correct English form is megaton, spelled M-E-G-A-T-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A measure of the strength of an explosion or a bomb based on how many million tons of TNT would be needed to produce the same energy. (A derived unit for TNT equivalent.)
  2. 2
    One million tons.
  3. 3
    One million tons.
  4. 4
    One million tons.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how megaton appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Holonyms: gigaton < teraton < petaton < exaton (rare) < zettaton (rare) < yottaton (rare)
  2. Meronyms: ton of TNT < kiloton

Etymology

From mega- + ton.

This word in other languages

mégatonne(Français)Megatonne(Deutsch)

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

How do you spell "megaton"?
"megaton" is spelled M-E-G-A-T-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmɛɡəˌtʌn/.
What does "megaton" mean?
As a noun, "megaton" means: A measure of the strength of an explosion or a bomb based on how many million tons of TNT would be needed to produce the same energy. (A derived unit for TNT equivalent.)
How do you pronounce "megaton"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "megaton" is /ˈmɛɡəˌtʌn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "megaton"?
From mega- + ton. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "megaton", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Meacham#64,530miserly#64,543Molokai#64,549Lyndsey#64,511

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list