Which to use
“pardon” and “pardons” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,377
- “pardon” frequency rank
- #32,113
- “pardons” frequency rank
- 41490
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pardon | pardons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forgiveness for an offence. | plural of pardon |
Where the eye mixes pardon and pardons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pardon and pardons
A purely visual mix-up. pardon (/ˈpɑːdn̩/) and pardons (/ˈpɑɹ.dənz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “pardon” sits inside “pardons”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41490, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pardon is recorded at frequency rank #9,377, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɑːdn̩/. pardons is at rank #32,113, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɑɹ.dənz/.
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 41490, this pair ranks #257,906 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pardon vs pardons
Shared letters: adnopr. Private to "pardon": -. Private to "pardons": s.
"pardon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pardons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pardon" and "pardons" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "pardon" or "pardons" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pardon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pardons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #257,906 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pardon" and "pardons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pardons vs parson". 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 #257,906 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.