Assumption or presumption?
assumption is a noun meaning “The act of assuming, or taking to or upon oneself; the act of taking up or…”; presumption is a noun meaning “The act of presuming, or something presumed”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) assumption is about 7.1 times as common as presumption.
What is the difference between assumption and presumption?
| assumption | presumption | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | The act of assuming, or taking to or upon oneself; the act of taking up or adopting The act of taking for granted, or supposing a thing without proof; a supposition; an unwarrantable claim | The act of presuming, or something presumed The belief of something based upon reasonable evidence, or upon something known to be true |
| Example | His assumption of secretarial duties was timely | The presumption is that an event has taken place |
| Forms | assumptions | presumptions |
| Pronunciation | /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/ | /pɹɪˈzʌmp.ʃən/ |
| In writing | 12 times per million words | 1.7 times per million words |
Sources: assumption and presumption in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of assumption and presumption
assumption
- 1
The act of assuming, or taking to or upon oneself; the act of taking up or adopting
His assumption of secretarial duties was timely
- 2
The act of taking for granted, or supposing a thing without proof; a supposition; an unwarrantable claim
Their assumption of his guilt disqualified them from jury duty
- 3
The thing supposed; a postulate, or proposition assumed; a supposition
- 4
The minor or second proposition in a categorical syllogism
- 5
The taking of a person up into heaven
- 6
A festival in honor of the ascent of the Virgin Mary into heaven, celebrated on 15 August
- 7
Assumptio
presumption
- 1
The act of presuming, or something presumed
- 2
The belief of something based upon reasonable evidence, or upon something known to be true
The presumption is that an event has taken place
- 3
The condition upon which something is presumed
- 4
datedArrogant behaviour; the act of venturing beyond due bounds of reverence or respect
- 5
An inference that a trier of fact is either permitted or required to draw under certain factual circumstances (as prescribed by statute or case law) unless the party against whom the inference is…
The state, in the exercise of its general power to prescribe rules of evidence, may provide that proof of a particular fact, or of several facts taken collectively, shall be prima…
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, assumption or presumption?
assumption appears 12 times per million words; presumption 1.7 times per million words.
assumption 12 times per million wordspresumption 1.7 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search assumption vs presumption?
“assumption vs presumption” is searched about 1,000 times a month on Google and 40 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“presumption vs assumption”, “assumption or presumption”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.