option
/ˈɑpʃən/noun, verb
option is spelled O-P-T-I-O-N. The wrong spelling people search most is opion: about 340 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 10 of all searches for the word. Option is a noun meaning “One of a set of choices that can be made”. The plural of option is options.
How many letters and syllables are in option?
| Letters | 6: O-P-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 63 times per million words; the 1,668th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, opion, about 340 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell option?
Option is spelled O-P-T-I-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for option in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is option?
Option appears 63 times per million words in written English, the 1,668th 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 option?
- UK /ˈɒpʃən/
- US /ˈɑpʃən/
Option 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-option.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with option?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as option from its last stressed vowel (/ɑpʃən/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: potion.
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 option
- options plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- optioning participle, present
- optioned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does option mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
One of a set of choices that can be made.
- 2
The freedom or right to choose.
- 3
A contract giving the holder the right to buy or sell an asset at a set strike price; can apply to financial market transactions, or to ordinary transactions for tangible assets such as a residence or automobile.
- 4
The acquiring or retention of a nationality through personal choice as a right, bypassing selective legal mechanisms for naturalization, especially in cases where a territory is transferred or passed on from one state to another.
verb
- 1
To purchase an option on something.
The new novel was optioned by the film studio, but they'll probably never decide to make a movie from it.
- 2
datedTo configure, by setting an option.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Option in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | choix, possibilité, option |
| German | Alternative, Option, Möglichkeit, Wahl |
| Portuguese | opção |
| Spanish | opción , opción financiera |
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 option come from?
From French option, from Latin optiō (“choice; option; act of choosing”), from optō (“to choose, select”). Equivalent to opt + -ion.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).