con

/kɒn/

//kɒn// verb

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

"con" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“con” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #4,434) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#4,434
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To study or examine carefully, especially in order to gain knowledge of; to learn, or learn by heart.

Corpus desk

Index EN-con · con · English

con · rank #4,434 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,434
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH collaboration

Nearest frequency peer: collaboration (-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 neighbours of confusable “con”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “con” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

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).

con vs CT
0% similar
con vs CR
0% similar
con vs cs
33% similar

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

Key facts for con
PropertyValue
Headwordcon
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/kɒn/
Letters3
Frequency rank#4,434
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “con”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).conlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “collaboration” (#4,433), “consideration” (#4,435), “CNN” (#4,432). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “con” is #4,434. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for con is neighbouring look-alikes ("CT", "CR", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /kɒn/. Frequency #4,434 among 5,599 “C” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for con, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CT", "CR", "cs", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Middle English connen English con Inherited from Middle English connen, inherited from Old English cunnan (“to know, know how”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kunnan (“recognize, know how”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną (“to k… The correct English form is con, spelled C-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    To study or examine carefully, especially in order to gain knowledge of; to learn, or learn by heart.
  2. 2
    To know; understand; acknowledge.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. For Caſſius is a-weary of the World: / Hated by one he loues, brau'd by his Brother, / Check'd like a bondman, all his faults obſeru'd, / Set in a Note-booke, learn'd, and con'd by roate / To caſt into my Teeth.
  2. At length, himself unsettling, he the pond / Stirred with his staff, and fixedly did look / Upon the muddy water, which he conned, / As if he had been reading in a book

Etymology

Etymology tree Middle English connen English con Inherited from Middle English connen, inherited from Old English cunnan (“to know, know how”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kunnan (“recognize, know how”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną (“to know, know how”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (“to know”) Doublet of can.

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 "con"?
"con" is spelled C-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /kɒn/.
What does "con" mean?
As a verb, "con" means: To study or examine carefully, especially in order to gain knowledge of; to learn, or learn by heart.
What words are commonly confused with "con"?
"con" is commonly confused with "CT", "CR", "cs". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "con"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "con" is /kɒn/. 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 "con"?
Etymology tree Middle English connen English con Inherited from Middle English connen, inherited from Old English cunnan (“to know, know how”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kunnan (“recognize, know how”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *kunn... 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 "con", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

CNN#4,432ton#4,419las#4,463pin#4,475

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list