CondonvscondoneTell them apart

Quick tell: Condon is a name, condone is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Condon” is a name and “condone” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,393
“Condon” frequency rank
#23,215
“condone” frequency rank
60608
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Condon condone
Definition A surname from Irish. To forgive, excuse or overlook (something that is considered morally wrong, offensive, or generally disliked).

Letter map: Condon vs condone

Shared letters muted; letters that set Condon and condone apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

6 ch
Condon
7 ch
condone

Role in the sentence - Condon and condone

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Condon is aname and condoneaverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Condon” sits inside “condone”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Condon is recorded at frequency rank #37,393, classified as aname. condone is at rank #23,215, tagged as averb, pronounced /kənˈdoʊn/.

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 60608, this pair ranks #99,225 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Condon vs condone

Shared letters: cdno. Private to "Condon": -. Private to "condone": e.

"Condon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "condone" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Condonccondon · cnodon · codnon · conddon · condno · condonn · conndon · conodn
  • condoneccondone · cnodone · codnone · conddone · condnoe · condoen · condonne · conndone

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Condon" and "condone" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Condon" is a name and "condone" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Condon" or "condone"?
"condone" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,215 in our English list, against #37,393 for "Condon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Condon" and "condone". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Condon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "condone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #99,225 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Condon" and "condone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Colson vs Condon". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #99,225 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list