cannot
can·not/ˈkænɒt/verb, noun
cannot is spelled C-A-N-N-O-T, 2 syllables: can·not. The wrong spelling people search most is cannnot: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 143 of all searches for the word. Cannot is a verb meaning “Can not; be unable to (whether due to physical inability, logical impossibility, etc.)”.
How many letters and syllables are in cannot?
| Letters | 6: C-A-N-N-O-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: can·not |
| In writing | 129 times per million words; the 810th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, cannnot, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell cannot?
Cannot is spelled C-A-N-N-O-T. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 72 of the searches for cannot in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is cannot?
Cannot appears 129 times per million words in written English, the 810th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cannot?
- UK /ˈkænɒt/
- UK /ˌkænˈɒt/
- /ˈkænɑt/
Cannot has 2 syllables, split can·not in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-cannot.wav, En-us-cannot.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with cannot
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: can not (one word or two).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with cannot?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as cannot (/ænɒt/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: canton.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of cannot
- cannet
- cannit
- can not
- cannots plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cannot mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
Can not; be unable to (whether due to physical inability, logical impossibility, etc.).
I cannot open the window. It is stuck.
- 2
Be forbidden or not permitted to.
The Pupil after his Pupillarity, had granted a Diſcharge to one of the Co-tutors, which did extinguiſh the whole Debt of that Co-tutor, and conſequently of all the reſt, they being all correi debendi, lyable by one individual Obligation, wh
noun
- 1
Something that cannot be done.
the cans and cannots
- 2
A person who cannot do (something).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cannot in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense cannot – see also can, not:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ne pas pouvoir |
| German | nicht können |
| Portuguese | não pode |
| Spanish | no poder |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cannot come from?
From Middle English can not, cannot, cannouȝt, etc. (compare Old English ne cann), equivalent to can + not.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).