lion

\ljɔ̃\

/\ljɔ̃\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“lion” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #3,935) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#3,935
frequency rank, French
2,567
“L” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Grand félin carnivore, (Panthera leo), autrefois répandu des Balkans au sous-continent indien et dans toute l’Afrique.

Corpus desk

Index FR-lion · lion · French

lion · rank #3,935 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,935
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,567
  • PHOTO-FINISH laissent

Nearest frequency peer: laissent (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « lion »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « lion » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

lion vs lo
50% similar
lion vs loi
50% similar
lion vs lit
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for lion
PropertyValue
Headwordlion
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ljɔ̃\
Letters4
Frequency rank#3,935
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « lion »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.lionse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « laissent » (#3,934), « marin » (#3,936), « marié » (#3,937). Parmi 2,567 lemmes en « L », « lion » est au #3,935. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for lion is neighbouring look-alikes ("lo", "loi", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \ljɔ̃\. Frequency #3,935 among 2,567 “L” headwords. 8 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for lion, with forms such as "ilon", "lionn", and "llion". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lo", "loi", "lit", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is lion, spelled L-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Grand félin carnivore, (Panthera leo), autrefois répandu des Balkans au sous-continent indien et dans toute l’Afrique.
  2. 2
    Mâle de cette espèce.
  3. 3
    Homme courageux.
  4. 4
    Meuble représentant un félin stylisé dans les armoiries. Sa position naturelle est le rampant, la tête de profil. Lorsqu’il est passant, il est dit léopardé. À rapprocher de léopard et lionne.
  5. 5
    Homme en vue, célèbre.
  6. 6
    Type de jeune homme élégant qui succéda au dandy.
  7. 7
    Membre du Lions Clubs, d’un Lions club.
  8. 8
    Ride du lion, couple de rides formé entre les sourcils.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how lion appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Il y avait là des autruches, des gazelles, une girafe et, pêle-mêle, des renards fénecs, des léopards, et même un lion !
  2. Le lion a complètement disparu de la région dont nous nous occupons; mais il joue un grand rôle dans les contes indigènes, qui le représentent comme un animal essentiellement noble et magnanime.

Synonyms

roi des animaux

This word in other languages

lion(English)león(Español)Löwe(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ilon
  • lionn
  • llion

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lion - 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.

ilon2lionn1llion1
Edit distance from "lion"

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 "lion"?
"lion" is spelled L-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ljɔ̃\.
What does "lion" mean?
As a noun, "lion" means: Grand félin carnivore, (Panthera leo), autrefois répandu des Balkans au sous-continent indien et dans toute l’Afrique.
What words are commonly confused with "lion"?
"lion" is commonly confused with "lo", "loi", "lit". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "lion"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lion" is \ljɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "lion" come from?
"lion" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lion", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

fine#3,919sage#3,960abbé#3,973best#3,897

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list