cancer
/ˈkænsə/
"cancer" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cancer” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,244. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,244
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cancer · cancer · English
cancer · rank #1,244 · 9 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,244
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 9 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH biggest
Nearest frequency peer: biggest (-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 “cancer”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- approach
approach
98,760 corpus weight
- Australian
Australian
98,759 corpus weight
- biggest
biggest
98,758 corpus weight
- cancer
cancer
98,757 corpus weight
- civil
civil
98,756 corpus weight
- dance
dance
98,755 corpus weight
What this shows “cancer” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cancer |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkænsə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,244 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “cancer”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 9 spelling variants around cancer (IPA /ˈkænsə/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #1,244 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for cancer, with forms such as "acncer", "cacner", and "canccer". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cane", "cater", "canoe", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Latin cancer (“crab”), a calque of Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; ulcer; cancer”) (possibly cognate), applied to cancerous tumors because the enlarged veins resembled the legs of a crab. Doublet of canker and chancre. The correct English form is cancer, spelled C-A-N-C-E-R.
Definition
- 1A disease in which the cells of a tissue undergo uncontrolled (and often rapid) proliferation.
- 2Something damaging that spreads throughout something else.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cancer appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the[…]hazards of gasoline cars: air and water pollution, noise and noxiousness, constant coughing and the undeniable rise in cancers caused by smoke exhaust particulates.
Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin cancer (“crab”), a calque of Ancient Greek καρκίνος (karkínos, “crab; ulcer; cancer”) (possibly cognate), applied to cancerous tumors because the enlarged veins resembled the legs of a crab. Doublet of canker and chancre.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- acncer
- cacner
- canccer
- cancerr
- cancre
- canecr
- canncer
- ccancer
- cnacer
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cancer - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cancer", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).