Cannon or canon?
cannon is a noun meaning “A complete assembly, consisting of an artillery tube and a breech mechanism…”; canon is a noun meaning “A generally accepted principle; a rule”. They sound the same (/ˈkæn.ən/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) canon is about as common as cannon.
What is the difference between cannon and canon?
| cannon | canon | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, adjective |
| Meaning | 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… Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube To bombard with cannons | A generally accepted principle; a rule A formally codified set of criteria deemed mandatory for a particular artistic style of figurative art A type of clergymember serving a cathedral or collegiate church |
| Example | Holonyms: gun, field gun; howitzer; mortar | The trial must proceed according to the canons of law |
| Forms | cannons | canons cañons, cañones cañóns |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkæn.ən/ | /ˈkæn.ən/ |
| In writing | 10 times per million words | 13 times per million words |
Sources: cannon and canon in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of cannon and canon
cannon
- 1
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
Holonyms: gun, field gun; howitzer; mortar
- 2
To bombard with cannons
- 3
Any similar device for shooting material out of a tube
water cannon; glitter cannon; confetti cannon; potato cannon
- 4
To play the carom billiard shot; to strike two balls with the cue ball
The white cannoned off the red onto the pink
- 5
An autocannon
- 6
To fire something, especially spherical, rapidly
- 7
A bone of a horse’s leg, between the fetlock joint and the knee or hock
- 8
To collide or strike violently, especially so as to glance off or rebound
canon
- 1
A generally accepted principle; a rule
The trial must proceed according to the canons of law
- 2
A type of clergymember serving a cathedral or collegiate church
- 3
slangClipping of canonical
The franchise's book spinoff is usually not considered canon
- 4
Alternative spelling of qanun
- 5
Alternative spelling of cannon (“a carom in billiards”)
- 6
Alternative spelling of canyon
- 7
Alternative form of canyon
- 8
Alternative letter-case form of canon: a member of a chapter
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, cannon or canon?
cannon appears 10 times per million words; canon 13 times per million words.
cannon 10 times per million wordscanon 13 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search cannon vs canon?
“cannon vs canon” is searched about 4,400 times a month on Google and 60 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“canon vs cannon”, “cannon or canon”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.