icône
\i.kon\
The verdict
“icône” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #10,173 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #10,173
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Image sainte, le plus souvent peinte sur bois, qui est vénérée dans l'Église d'Orient.
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 | icône |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \i.kon\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #10,173 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “icône” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for icône is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \i.kon\. Corpus data places it at rank #10,173 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for icône, with forms such as "ciône", "iccône", and "icnôe". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "ion", "iron", "ions", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is icône, spelled I-C-Ô-N-E.
Definition
- 1Image sainte, le plus souvent peinte sur bois, qui est vénérée dans l'Église d'Orient.
- 2Archétype.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ciône,iccône,icnôe,icone,icôen,icônne,iôcne
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of icône - 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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "icône"?
What does "icône" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "icône"?
How do you pronounce "icône"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “icône”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is I-C-Ô-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \i.kon\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “ion” - see the side-by-side comparison. icône vs ion
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.