codon
/ˈkəʊ.dɒn/
"codon" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“codon” is uncommon English (frequency #56,019 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,019
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A handbell used for summoning monks.
Corpus desk
Index EN-codon · codon · English
codon · rank #56,019 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #56,019
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH codification
Nearest frequency peer: codification (-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.
Long-tail ranks near “codon”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- clef
clef
43,986 corpus weight
- clothesline
clothesline
43,985 corpus weight
- coarsely
coarsely
43,984 corpus weight
- codification
codification
43,983 corpus weight
- codon
codon
43,982 corpus weight
- Coetzee
Coetzee
43,981 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “codon” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | codon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈkəʊ.dɒn/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #56,019 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “codon” in English
Rare enough to double-check
codon is uncommon English at frequency #56,019 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈkəʊ.dɒn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
codon has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin codon, from Ancient Greek κώδων (kṓdōn). The correct English form is codon, spelled C-O-D-O-N.
Definition
- 1A handbell used for summoning monks.
- 2The "bell" or flaring mouth of a trumpet.
Etymology
From Latin codon, from Ancient Greek κώδων (kṓdōn).
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 "codon", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).