ambitionvsauditionWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“ambition” and “audition” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,116
“ambition” frequency rank
#9,998
“audition” frequency rank
18114
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ambition audition
Definition Eager or inordinate desire for some object that confers distinction, as preferment, honor, superiority, political power, or fame; desire to distinguish one's self from other people. A performance, by an aspiring performer, to demonstrate suitability or talent.

Where the eye mixes ambition and audition

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
ambition
8 ch
audition

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ambition (/æmˈbɪʃ.ən/) and audition (/ɑˈdɪʃən/) 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 18114, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ambition is recorded at frequency rank #8,116, classified as anoun, pronounced /æmˈbɪʃ.ən/. audition is at rank #9,998, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɑˈdɪʃən/.

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 18114, this pair ranks #447,010 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ambition vs audition

Shared letters: ainot. Private to "ambition": bm. Private to "audition": du.

"ambition" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC  ·  "audition" · 8 letters · shape VVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ambitionabmition · ambbition · ambiiton · ambision · ambitino · ambitionn · ambitoin · ambittion
  • auditionaduition · auddition · audiiton · audision · auditino · auditionn · auditoin · audittion

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ambition" and "audition" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/æmˈbɪʃ.ən/ versus /ɑˈdɪʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ambition" or "audition"?
"ambition" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,116 in our English list, against #9,998 for "audition". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list