melon
/ˈmɛlən/
"melon" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“melon” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #19,138 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #19,138
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Some of the plants of the family Cucurbitaceae grown for food, generally not including the cucumber.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | melon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmɛlən/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #19,138 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “melon” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for melon is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmɛlən/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,138 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for melon, with forms such as "emlon", "melno", and "melonn". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "men", "mon", "moon", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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”). The correct English form is melon, spelled M-E-L-O-N.
Definition
- 1Some of the plants of the family Cucurbitaceae grown for food, generally not including the cucumber.
- 2Some of the plants of the family Cucurbitaceae grown for food, generally not including the cucumber.
- 3Some of the plants of the family Cucurbitaceae grown for food, generally not including the cucumber.
- 4Some of the plants of the family Cucurbitaceae grown for food, generally not including the cucumber.
- 5The large, round to ovoid fruits that have rinds and are of such plants
- 6A light pinkish orange color, like that of some melon flesh.
- 7The breasts.
- 8The head, the brain.
- 9A member of the Green Party, or similar environmental group.
- 10A mass of adipose tissue found in the forehead of all toothed whales, used to focus and modulate vocalizations.
Etymology
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”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emlon,melno,melonn,meoln,mleon,mmelon
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of melon - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “melon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-E-L-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmɛlən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “men” - see the side-by-side comparison. melon vs men
- 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.