auctionvsauditionWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,506
“auction” frequency rank
#9,998
“audition” frequency rank
14504
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auction audition
Definition A public event where goods or property are sold to the highest bidder. A performance, by an aspiring performer, to demonstrate suitability or talent.

Where the eye mixes auction and audition

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

7 ch
auction
8 ch
audition

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. auction (/ˈɔːkʃən/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auction is recorded at frequency rank #4,506, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɔːkʃən/. 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 14504, this pair ranks #469,635 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of auction vs audition

Shared letters: ainotu. Private to "auction": c. Private to "audition": d.

"auction" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVVC  ·  "audition" · 8 letters · shape VVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • auctionacution · aucction · auciton · aucsion · auctino · auctionn · auctoin · aucttion
  • auditionaduition · auddition · audiiton · audision · auditino · auditionn · auditoin · audittion

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "auction" and "audition" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɔːkʃən/ versus /ɑˈdɪʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "auction" or "audition"?
"auction" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,506 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