Which to use
“acceptable” is an adjective and “acceptance” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,503
- “acceptable” frequency rank
- #5,469
- “acceptance” frequency rank
- 9972
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acceptable | acceptance |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Worthy, decent, sure of being accepted or received with at least moderate pleasure. | The act of accepting; the receiving of something offered, with acquiescence, approbation, or satisfaction; especially, favourable reception; approval. |
Where the eye mixes acceptable and acceptance
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between acceptable and acceptance
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: acceptable is /əkˈsɛp.tə.bəl/ while acceptance is /əkˈsɛp.təns/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9972, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acceptable is recorded at frequency rank #4,503, classified as anadj, pronounced /əkˈsɛp.tə.bəl/. acceptance is at rank #5,469, tagged as anoun, pronounced /əkˈsɛp.təns/.
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 9972, this pair ranks #494,668 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of acceptable vs acceptance
Shared letters: acept. Private to "acceptable": bl. Private to "acceptance": n.
"acceptable" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCV · "acceptance" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- acceptable ← accepatble · accepptable · acceptabble · acceptabel · acceptablle · acceptalbe · acceptbale · acceptible
- acceptance ← accepatnce · accepptance · acceptacne · acceptancce · acceptanec · acceptannce · acceptence · acceptnace
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "acceptable" and "acceptance" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "acceptable" or "acceptance"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "acceptable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "acceptance" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #494,668 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #494,668 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.