Skip to main content
PlainSpell

melon

/ˈmɛlən/noun, adjective

melon is spelled M-E-L-O-N: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, melon means “Genus Cucumis, the true melon (including various cultigens like honeydew and cantaloupes), the horned melon, and others” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of melon is melons.

How many letters and syllables are in melon?

Letters5: M-E-L-O-N
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.1 times per million words; the 19,077th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is melon?

Melon appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th 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 melon?

  • US /ˈmɛlən/
  • Australia /ˈmelən/

Melon has 2 syllables (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-melon.ogg, En-au-melon.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with melon

Also written: mellon.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with melon?

One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as melon from its last stressed vowel (/ɛlən/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: lemon.

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 melon

  • melons plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does melon mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    Genus Cucumis, the true melon (including various cultigens like honeydew and cantaloupes), the horned melon, and others.

  2. 2

    Genus Citrullus, the watermelon and others.

  3. 3

    Benincasa hispida, the winter melon.

  4. 4

    Momordica charantia, the bitter melon.

  5. 5

    The large, round to ovoid fruits that have rinds and are of such plants.

  6. 6

    A light pinkish orange color, like that of some melon flesh.

  7. 7

    slangThe breasts.

  8. 8

    slangThe head, the brain.

    Think! Use your melon!

  9. 9

    Alternative form of mellon.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of a light pinkish orange color, like that of melon flesh.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Melon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmelon (fruit), melons, pastèques (slang: breasts)
GermanMelone (fruit), Melonen (slang: breasts)
Portuguesemelão (fruit), melões (slang: breasts)
Spanishmelón (fruit)

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 melon come from?

From Middle English meloun, melon, from Old French melon, from Late Latin melonem, from Latin melopeponem, from Ancient Greek μηλοπέπων (mēlopépōn), from μῆλον (mêlon, “apple”) + πέπων (pépōn, “ripe”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after melon