upon
up·on/əˈpɒn/preposition
upon is spelled U-P-O-N, 2 syllables: up·on. The wrong spelling people search most is uppon: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 40 of all searches for the word. Upon is a preposition meaning “alternative to on in most, though not all, prepositional uses”.
How many letters and syllables are in upon?
| Letters | 4: U-P-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: up·on |
| In writing | 132 times per million words; the 792nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, uppon, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; 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 upon?
Upon is spelled U-P-O-N. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 40 of the searches for upon 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 upon?
Upon appears 132 times per million words in written English, the 792nd 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 upon?
- UK /əˈpɒn/
- British /əˈpɔn/
- /əˈpɑn/
Upon has 2 syllables, split up·on in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-upon.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with upon
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: up on (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with upon?
5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as upon from its last stressed vowel (/ɒn/, British pronunciation):
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).
What does upon mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
preposition
- 1
alternative to on in most, though not all, prepositional uses.
A vase of flowers stood upon the table. – The painting hangs upon the wall. – All of the responsibility is upon him. – She plays upon a violin (or piano). – The lighthouse that you can see is upon the mainland. – He rested upon his elbows.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does upon come from?
From Middle English upon, uppon, uppen, from Old English upon, uppon, uppan (“on, upon, up to, against, after, in addition to”), equivalent to up (“adverb”) + on (“preposition”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).