niobium
/naɪˈoʊbiəm/
"niobium" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“niobium” is uncommon English (frequency #63,843 among 24,391 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #63,843
- frequency rank, English
- 24,391
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A chemical element (symbol Nb) with an atomic number of 41: a light grey, crystalline, ductile transition metal used in superconducting materials.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | niobium |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /naɪˈoʊbiəm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #63,843 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “niobium” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
niobium is uncommon English at frequency #63,843 among 24,391 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /naɪˈoʊbiəm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for niobium in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Niobe + -ium, because of the element's affinity with tantalum, named after Niobe's father Tantalus. The correct English form is niobium, spelled N-I-O-B-I-U-M.
Definition
- 1A chemical element (symbol Nb) with an atomic number of 41: a light grey, crystalline, ductile transition metal used in superconducting materials.
- 2A single atom of this element.
Etymology
From Niobe + -ium, because of the element's affinity with tantalum, named after Niobe's father Tantalus.
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 “niobium”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is N-I-O-B-I-U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /naɪˈoʊbiəm/ (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
Other uncommon English words near this rank
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.