canton

/\kɑ̃.tɔ̃\/ noun

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#5,013

in French word usage

Misspellings

9

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

canton is aFrenchnoun. It means: Certaine partie d’un pays considérée comme distincte du reste de ce pays. Pronounced \kɑ̃.tɔ̃\. It ranks #5,013 in French word frequency. Often confused with coton and caron.

Key facts for canton
PropertyValue
Headwordcanton
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kɑ̃.tɔ̃\
Letters6
Frequency rank#5,013
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of canton in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for canton is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kɑ̃.tɔ̃\. Corpus data places it at rank #5,013 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for canton, with forms such as "acnton", "cannton", and "canotn". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "coton", "caron", "catin", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is canton, spelled C-A-N-T-O-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Certaine partie d’un pays considérée comme distincte du reste de ce pays.
  2. 2
    Certaine partie d’un pays considérée comme distincte du reste de ce pays.
  3. 3
    Certaine partie d’un pays considérée comme distincte du reste de ce pays.
  4. 4
    Certaine partie d’un pays considérée comme distincte du reste de ce pays.
  5. 5
    Certaine partie d’un pays considérée comme distincte du reste de ce pays.
  6. 6
    Certaine partie d’un pays considérée comme distincte du reste de ce pays.
  7. 7
    Surface carrée positionnée par défaut au chef dextre de l’écu. La surface est généralement moindre que celle du franc-canton qui est lui-même moindre que le franc-quartier. Si sa position diffère de l’ordinaire, elle doit être blasonnée.
  8. 8
    Angle de l’écu où est positionné un meuble.
  9. 9
    Subdivision d’une voie ferrée servant au cantonnement, c'est-à-dire à la régulation de la circulation des trains.
  10. 10
    Section de route, généralement départementale ou communale, entretenue par un cantonnier.
  11. 11
    Quartier supérieur du guindant d’un drapeau ou pavillon. Il est donc situé contre la hampe.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: acnton,cannton,canotn,cantno,cantonn,cantton,catnon,ccanton,cnaton

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for canton

Misspelling Variants of "canton"

acnton6cannton7canotn6cantno6cantonn7cantton7catnon6ccanton7
Misspelling Variants of "canton"

Frequency rank: #5,013 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "canton"?
"canton" is spelled C-A-N-T-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \kɑ̃.tɔ̃\.
What does "canton" mean?
As a noun, "canton" means: Certaine partie d’un pays considérée comme distincte du reste de ce pays.
What words are commonly confused with "canton"?
"canton" is commonly confused with "coton", "caron", "catin". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "canton"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "canton" is \kɑ̃.tɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "canton" come from?
"canton" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.