canary

/kəˈnɛəɹi/

//kəˈnɛəɹi// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"canary" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“canary” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #16,189. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#16,189
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
15
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.

Corpus desk

Index EN-canary · canary · English

canary · rank #16,189 · 9 variants · 15 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #16,189
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 15 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH cafeteria

Nearest frequency peer: cafeteria (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “canary”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “canary” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

canary vs Cary
50% similar
canary vs carry
67% similar
canary vs candy
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for canary
PropertyValue
Headwordcanary
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/kəˈnɛəɹi/
Letters6
Frequency rank#16,189
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs15
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “canary”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).canarylands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “cafeteria” (#16,188), “busting” (#16,187), “burglary” (#16,186). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “canary” is #16,189. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around canary (IPA /kəˈnɛəɹi/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #16,189 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 14 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for canary, with forms such as "acnary", "caanry", and "canarry". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 15 confusable-pair relationships, "Cary", "carry", "candy", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From French canarie, from Spanish canario, from the Latin Canariae insulae (“Canary Islands”) (Spanish Islas Canarias); from the largest island Insula Canaria (“Dog Island" or "Canine Island”), named for its dogs, from canārius (“canine”), from canis (“dog”). The correct English form is canary, spelled C-A-N-A-R-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.
  2. 2
    Any of various small birds of different countries, most of which are largely yellow in colour.
  3. 3
    A female singer, soprano, a coloratura singer.
  4. 4
    An informer or snitch; a squealer.
  5. 5
    A light, slightly greenish, yellow colour.
  6. 6
    A (usually yellow) capsule of the short-acting barbiturate pentobarbital/pentobarbitone (nembutal).
  7. 7
    A yellow sticker applied by the police to a vehicle to indicate it is unroadworthy.
  8. 8
    Any test subject, especially an inadvertent or unwilling one. (From the mining practice of using canaries to detect dangerous gases.)
  9. 9
    A value placed in memory such that it will be the first data corrupted by a buffer overflow, allowing the program to identify and recover from it.
  10. 10
    A change that is tested by being rolled out first to a subset of machines or users before rolling out to all.
  11. 11
    A light, sweet, white wine from the Canary Islands.
  12. 12
    A lively dance, possibly of Spanish origin (also called canaries).
  13. 13
    A sovereign (coin).
  14. 14
    A previously-issued ticket, retained by a ticket-seller, conductor or driver and resold to a subsequent passenger as a means of defrauding the transport company.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how canary appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The tendency in these types of situations (as far as I can see) is that because I don't think the act itself is illegal, the police will go through your vehicle systematically loking^([sic]) for anything wrong with it, to slap a canary on it (that's slang for an unroadworthy sticker) or present you with some other fine.
  2. Yes, if the exhaust is to noisey^([sic]) they can slap a yellow canary on it, but the[n] who cares you got rid of it.

Etymology

From French canarie, from Spanish canario, from the Latin Canariae insulae (“Canary Islands”) (Spanish Islas Canarias); from the largest island Insula Canaria (“Dog Island" or "Canine Island”), named for its dogs, from canārius (“canine”), from canis (“dog”).

Synonyms

informant

This word in other languages

canario(Español)canari(Français)Kanarienvogel(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • acnary
  • caanry
  • canarry
  • canaryy
  • canayr
  • cannary
  • canray
  • ccanary
  • cnaary

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of canary - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

acnary2caanry2canarry1canaryy1canayr2cannary1canray2ccanary1
Edit distance from "canary"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "canary"?
"canary" is spelled C-A-N-A-R-Y. The IPA pronunciation is /kəˈnɛəɹi/.
What does "canary" mean?
As a noun, "canary" means: A small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.
What words are commonly confused with "canary"?
"canary" is commonly confused with "Cary", "carry", "candy". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "canary"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "canary" is /kəˈnɛəɹi/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "canary"?
From French canarie, from Spanish canario, from the Latin Canariae insulae (“Canary Islands”) (Spanish Islas Canarias); from the largest island Insula Canaria (“Dog Island" or "Canine Island”), named for its dogs, from canārius (“canine”), from ca... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "canary", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cheats#16,196clumsy#16,199aiding#16,173ageing#16,172

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

vested9 variantsunfold9 variantstopical9 variantstexted9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list