Which to use
“cannon” is a noun and “canny” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,878
- “cannon” frequency rank
- #33,162
- “canny” frequency rank
- 40040
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cannon | canny |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Careful, prudent, cautious. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cannon and canny apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
cannon and canny form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40040, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cannon is recorded at frequency rank #6,878, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæn.ən/. canny is at rank #33,162, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkæni/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 40040, this pair ranks #271,216 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cannon" and "canny" be used interchangeably?
Remembering cannon vs canny
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cannon”; for an adjective, it's “canny”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cannon” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable