Single domain CoFe2O4 nanoparticles with different amount of defects/strain have been synthesized by varying the growth temperature in the hydrothermal method. Nanoparticles grown at lower temperature are of larger size and exhibit more planar defects and oxygen vacancies as compared to nanoparticles grown at higher temperatures which are of smaller sizes and exhibit less planar defects and oxygen vacancies. The nanoparticles with larger amount of defects also possess a higher value of intrinsic strain as compared to nanoparticles with fewer defects. The presence of intrinsic strain in the nanoparticles is found to shift the cationic distribution at the tetrahedral and octahedral sites. The saturation magnetization (M-s) of the nanoparticles is found to depend upon both the intrinsic strain and size of the nanoparticles. The Ms increases with the decrease in the nanoparticles size from 32 nm to 20 nm, and this is correlated to the inverse of spin canting effect due to decrease in the intrinsic strain which leads to shifting of Co2+ ions from tetrahedral to octahedral sites. However, with further decrease in the size of the nanoparticles (16 nm), the size effect dominates over the strain effect leading to decrease in Ms. The coercivity is found to be higher in the nanoparticles with larger amount of defects/strain and has been attributed to strain induced strong spin canting and pinning due to defect sites. The variation of coercivity with particle size (D) exhibits deviation from D-3/2 dependence for the nanoparticles with larger amount of strain/defects. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.