Which to use
“canon” and “côlon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,385
- “canon” frequency rank
- #29,717
- “côlon” frequency rank
- 33102
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | canon | côlon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pièce d’artillerie en forme de tube, et servant à lancer des projectiles, boulets, obus, etc. | Celui des gros intestins qui fait suite au cæcum. |
Where the eye mixes canon and côlon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between canon and côlon
A purely visual mix-up. canon (\ka.nɔ̃\) and côlon (\ko.lɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33102, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
canon is recorded at frequency rank #3,385, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.nɔ̃\. côlon is at rank #29,717, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ko.lɔ̃\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 33102, this pair ranks #292,852 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of canon vs côlon
Shared letters: cno. Private to "canon": a. Private to "côlon": lô.
"canon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "côlon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- canon ← acnon · canno · canonn · caonn · ccanon · cnaon
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "canon" for "côlon" ever safe?
Frequency check: "canon" vs "côlon" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "canon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "côlon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #292,852 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "canon" and "côlon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "côlon vs coon". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #292,852 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.