cant
/kænt/
"cant" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cant” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,928. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #3,928
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
Corpus desk
Index EN-cant · cant · English
cant · rank #3,928 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #3,928
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH breast
Nearest frequency peer: breast (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “cant”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- banking
banking
96,075 corpus weight
- breast
breast
96,074 corpus weight
- cant
cant
96,073 corpus weight
- Carter
Carter
96,072 corpus weight
- Chelsea
Chelsea
96,071 corpus weight
- chemistry
chemistry
96,070 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “cant” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | cant |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kænt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #3,928 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cant” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around cant (IPA /kænt/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,928 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 7 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for cant, with forms such as "acnt", "cannt", and "cantt". 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, "CT", "car", "cut", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin cantō probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”). Doublet of chant. The correct English form is cant, spelled C-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
- 2A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.
- 3A language spoken by some Irish Travellers; Shelta.
- 4Empty, hypocritical talk.
- 5Whining speech, such as that used by beggars.
- 6A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name (or, less often, some attribute or function) of the bearer, canting arms.
- 7A call for bidders at a public fair; an auction.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how cant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He had the look of a prince, but the cant of a fishmonger.
I am aware that the phrase free inquiry has become too much a cant phrase soiled by the handling of the ignorant and the reckless by those who fall into the mistake of supposing that religion has its root in the understanding and by those who can see just far enough to doubt and no further.
Etymology
From Latin cantō probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”). Doublet of chant.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- acnt
- cannt
- cantt
- catn
- ccant
- cnat
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cant - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cant", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.