English homophones
cannon/canon
"canon" (#5,940 written frequency) beats "cannon" (#6,878) in this 2-word /ˈkæn.ən/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈkæn.ən/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "canon" leads at #5,940, with "cannon" trailing at #6,878.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "can" then splits - "cannon" (6 letters) vs "canon" (5).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across cannon, canon: acno. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
cannon
6 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCCVC
Inventory acno · no private letters vs siblings
canon
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVC
Inventory acno · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "cannon" when you mean: A complete assembly, consisting of an artillery tube and a breech mechanism, firing mechanism or base cap, which is a component of a gun,…
- Write "canon" when you mean: A generally accepted principle; a rule.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
noun · /ˈkæn.ən/ · #6,878 frequency
A complete assembly, consisting of an artillery tube and a breech mechanism, firing mechanism or base cap, which is a component of a gun, howitzer or mortar, which may include muzzle appendages.
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (cannon, canon). Here's where to go from here.
- "canon" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #5,940 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: co · ko. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "cannon, canon" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.