Wanton is an adjective meaning immoral or unchaste, merciless, unrestrainedly excessive, or undisciplined. The word also has rarer verb and noun senses—basically, to be wanton and one who is wanton. A wonton is a noodle-dough dumpling filled with pork or other meat and boiled in soup or fried. It’s a delicious Chinese side dish. The two are homophones at least in some varieties of English, which makes their occasional confusion inevitable.
Examples
Wonton
I couldn’t find wonton wrappers so I got egg roll wrappers, which were too big. [GoErie.com]
To the delight of patrons, wonton soup and fried rice become gnocchi with Himalayan truffles, sea urchin sashimi, chicken fried beef jerky and other specialties. [The Business Insider]
Wanton
But the way the courts have applied it, the prosecutor has to show a wanton and willful disregard for human life … [Baltimore Sun]
But even though Mrs Cutler clearly suspected her nephew, she forced Gladys and me to listen to a long lecture on the evils of wanton behaviour. [Daily Mail]