felon
/ˈfɛlən/
"felon" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“felon” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #23,270. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #23,270
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Of a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: brutal, cruel, harsh, heartless; also, evil, wicked.
Corpus desk
Index EN-felon · felon · English
felon · rank #23,270 · 7 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #23,270
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 7 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH flammable
Nearest frequency peer: flammable (+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 “felon”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- Fabian
Fabian
76,734 corpus weight
- Faye
Faye
76,733 corpus weight
- felon
felon
76,731 corpus weight
- flammable
flammable
76,730 corpus weight
- Flanagan
Flanagan
76,729 corpus weight
- footnote
footnote
76,728 corpus weight
What this shows “felon” 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 | felon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈfɛlən/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #23,270 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “felon”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 7 spelling variants around felon (IPA /ˈfɛlən/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #23,270 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for felon, with forms such as "eflon", "fellon", and "felno". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Flo", "fen", "felt", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: The adjective is derived from Middle English feloun, felun (“base, wicked; hostile; of an animal: dangerous; of words: angry, harsh, slanderous; of things: dangerous, deadly; false, fraudulent; unlucky”) [and other forms], from Old French felon (“bad, evil,… The correct English form is felon, spelled F-E-L-O-N.
Definition
- 1Of a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: brutal, cruel, harsh, heartless; also, evil, wicked.
- 2Of a place: harsh, savage, wild; of a thing: deadly; harmful.
- 3Obtained through a felony; stolen.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how felon appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
For Courteſies, tho' undeſerv'd and great, / No gratitude in Fellon-minds beget, / As tribute to his VVit, the churl receives the treat.
And tvventy youths in radiant mail incas'd, / Cloſe ambuſh'd nigh the ſpacious hall he plac'd. / Then bids prepare the hoſpitable treat: / Vain ſhevvs of love to veil his felon hate!
Etymology
The adjective is derived from Middle English feloun, felun (“base, wicked; hostile; of an animal: dangerous; of words: angry, harsh, slanderous; of things: dangerous, deadly; false, fraudulent; unlucky”) [and other forms], from Old French felon (“bad, evil, immoral”) (compare fel (“evil; despicable, vile”)), from Early Medieval Latin fellōnem; further etymology uncertain. Doublet of fell (“of a strong and cruel nature; fierce; grim; ruthless, savage”). Etymology 1 sense 3 (“obtained through a felony”) is derived from the noun. The noun is derived from Middle English feloun, felun (“criminal, specifically one who has committed a felony, felon; cruel, hostile, violent, etc., person; deceiver; evildoer, monster, sinner; traitor; bold or fierce warrior; deceit, falseness; wickedness, wrongdoing; treachery”) [and other forms], from feloun, felun (adjective): see above. Cognates * Catalan felló (adjective) * French félon (adjective, noun) * Italian fellone (adjective, noun) * Occitan felon, felhon, fellon (adjective) * Spanish felón (adjective, noun)
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- eflon
- fellon
- felno
- felonn
- feoln
- ffelon
- fleon
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of felon - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "felon", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).