Cons or pros?
cons is a noun meaning “A data structure in Lisp that is a pair of pointers, car and cdr, used mainly…”; pros is a prefix meaning “To, toward, before, forward, in front”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) pros is about as common as cons.
What is the difference between cons and pros?
| cons | pros | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | prefix, noun |
| Meaning | A data structure in Lisp that is a pair of pointers, car and cdr, used mainly for lists To obtain a list from a cons or a nesting of conses; to prepend an element to a list by forming a cons of that element and the list; to obtain a list from a… | To, toward, before, forward, in front |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | conses | none |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɑnz/ /ˈkɑns/ | /pɹəʊz/ /pɹoʊz/ |
| In writing | 5.8 times per million words | 7.4 times per million words |
Sources: cons and pros 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 cons and pros
cons
- 1
A data structure in Lisp that is a pair of pointers, car and cdr, used mainly for lists
- 2
To obtain a list from a cons or a nesting of conses; to prepend an element to a list by forming a cons of that element and the list; to obtain a list from a smaller one by repeated application of…
- 3
Abbreviation of constant
- 4
Abbreviation of consultation
- 5
Abbreviation of constable
pros
- 1
To, toward, before, forward, in front
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, cons or pros?
cons appears 5.8 times per million words; pros 7.4 times per million words.
cons 5.8 times per million wordspros 7.4 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 cons vs pros?
“cons vs pros” is searched about 720 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“pros vs cons”, “cons or pros”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.