pardon
/ˈpɑːdn̩/
"pardon" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pardon” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,377 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,377
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 16
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Forgiveness for an offence.
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 | pardon |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɑːdn̩/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #9,377 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 16 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pardon” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pardon is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɑːdn̩/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,377 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for pardon, with forms such as "aprdon", "padron", and "parddon". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 16 confusable-pair relationships, "Paton", "person", "patron", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pardonen, from Old French pardoner (modern French pardonner), from Late Latin perdonare, from per- + donare, possibly a calque (if not vice-versa) of a Germanic word represented by Frankish *firgeban (“to forgive, give up completely”), f… The correct English form is pardon, spelled P-A-R-D-O-N.
Definition
- 1Forgiveness for an offence.
- 2An order that releases a convicted criminal without further punishment, prevents future punishment, or (in some jurisdictions) removes an offence from a person's criminal record, as if it had never been committed.
Etymology
From Middle English pardonen, from Old French pardoner (modern French pardonner), from Late Latin perdonare, from per- + donare, possibly a calque (if not vice-versa) of a Germanic word represented by Frankish *firgeban (“to forgive, give up completely”), from *fir- + *geban. Akin to Old High German fargeban, firgeban (“to forgive”), Old English forġiefan (“to forgive”). More at forgive.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aprdon,padron,parddon,pardno,pardonn,parodn,parrdon,ppardon,pradon
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pardon - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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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Using “pardon”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-R-D-O-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɑːdn̩/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Paton” - see the side-by-side comparison. pardon vs Paton
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.