pigeon
/ˈpɪ.dʒɪn/
"pigeon" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pigeon” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #12,829 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #12,829
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One of several birds of the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes.
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 | pigeon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɪ.dʒɪn/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #12,829 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pigeon” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pigeon is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɪ.dʒɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #12,829 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for pigeon, with forms such as "ipgeon", "pgieon", and "piegon". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "piston", "pinion", "pigeons", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Latin pīpiō Proto-Indo-European *-h₃onh₂der. Latin -ō Latin pipio Old French pyjonbor. Middle English pygeoun English pigeon Inherited from Middle English pygeoun, borrowed from Old French pyjon, inherited from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping … The correct English form is pigeon, spelled P-I-G-E-O-N.
Definition
- 1One of several birds of the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes.
- 2The meat from this bird.
- 3A person who is a target or victim of a confidence game.
- 4A pacifist, appeaser, an isolationist, a dove.
- 5A person hired to transport film footage out of a region where transport options are limited.
- 6A weak or useless person.
Etymology
Etymology tree Latin pīpiō Proto-Indo-European *-h₃onh₂der. Latin -ō Latin pipio Old French pyjonbor. Middle English pygeoun English pigeon Inherited from Middle English pygeoun, borrowed from Old French pyjon, inherited from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), derived from Latin pīpiāre (“to chirp”), of imitative origin. Partly displaced native English dove.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ipgeon,pgieon,piegon,pigeno,pigeonn,piggeon,pigoen,ppigeon
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pigeon - 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
How do you spell "pigeon"?
What does "pigeon" mean?
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Using “pigeon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-I-G-E-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɪ.dʒɪn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “piston” - see the side-by-side comparison. pigeon vs piston
- 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.