kanavskonoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“kana” and “kono” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,210
“kana” frequency rank
#45,474
“kono” frequency rank
81684
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kana kono
Definition The hiragana and katakana syllabaries. These are made up of characters that represent individual syllables, which are used to write Japanese words and particles. Kana are derived from kanji. A traditional Maori woven basket.

Letter map: kana vs kono

Shared letters muted; letters that set kana and kono apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. kana and kono follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
kana
4 ch
kono

Corpus notes: kana and kono

kana and kono are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81684, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kana is recorded at frequency rank #36,210, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɑːnə/. kono is at rank #45,474, tagged as anoun.

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 81684, this pair ranks #17,178 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kana vs kono

Shared letters: kn. Private to "kana": a. Private to "kono": o.

"kana" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "kono" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kana ← akna · kaan · kanna · kkana · knaa
  • kono ← kkono · knoo · konno · koon · okno

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "kana" for "kono" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "kana" vs "kono" - which ranks higher?
"kana" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,210 in our English list, against #45,474 for "kono". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "kana" and "kono". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kana" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kono" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,178 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kana" and "kono" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kono vs Kop". 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 #17,178 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