weapon
/ˈwɛp.ən/
"weapon" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“weapon” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #2,812 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,812
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 10
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An instrument of attack or defense in combat or hunting, e.g. most guns, missiles, or swords.
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 | weapon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwɛp.ən/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #2,812 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 10 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “weapon” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for weapon is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈwɛp.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,812 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. 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 weapon, with forms such as "ewapon", "waepon", and "weaopn". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 10 confusable-pair relationships, "Weston", "Wesson", "Weldon", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English wepen, from Old English wǣpn, from Proto-West Germanic *wāpn, from Proto-Germanic *wēpną (“weapon”), of unknown origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wēbnom. Cognates Cognate with Scots weepon (“weapon”), North Frisian woopen (“weap… The correct English form is weapon, spelled W-E-A-P-O-N.
Definition
- 1An instrument of attack or defense in combat or hunting, e.g. most guns, missiles, or swords.
- 2An instrument or other means of harming or exerting control over another.
- 3A tool of any kind.
- 4An idiot, an oaf, a fool, a tool; a contemptible or incompetent person.
- 5A very skilled, competent, or capable person or thing worthy of awe.
- 6The human genitals.
Etymology
From Middle English wepen, from Old English wǣpn, from Proto-West Germanic *wāpn, from Proto-Germanic *wēpną (“weapon”), of unknown origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wēbnom. Cognates Cognate with Scots weepon (“weapon”), North Frisian woopen (“weapon”), Saterland Frisian Woapen (“weapon”), West Frisian wapen (“weapon; coat of arms”), Alemannic German Waaffe (“tool”), Dutch wapen (“weapon”), German Waffe (“weapon”) and Wappen (“coat of arms”), Luxembourgish Waff (“weapon”), Yiddish וואָפֿן (vofn, “weapon”), Danish våben (“weapon; coat of arms”), Faroese vákn, vápn (“weapon; whaling lance”), Icelandic vopn (“weapon”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk våpen (“weapon”), Swedish vapen (“weapon; coat of arms”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐍀𐌽 (wēpn, “weapon”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ewapon,waepon,weaopn,weapno,weaponn,weappon,wepaon,wweapon
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of weapon - 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 “weapon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-E-A-P-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwɛp.ən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Weston” - see the side-by-side comparison. weapon vs Weston
- 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.