Which to use
“avoidable” is an adjective and “avoidance” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,924
- “avoidable” frequency rank
- #14,070
- “avoidance” frequency rank
- 43994
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | avoidable | avoidance |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Capable of being vacated; liable to be annulled or made invalid; voidable. | The act of avoiding or shunning; keeping clear of. |
Where the eye mixes avoidable and avoidance
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between avoidable and avoidance
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: avoidable is /əˈvɔɪdəbl̩/ while avoidance is /əˈvɔɪdəns/. 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 43994, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
avoidable is recorded at frequency rank #29,924, classified as anadj, pronounced /əˈvɔɪdəbl̩/. avoidance is at rank #14,070, tagged as anoun, pronounced /əˈvɔɪdəns/.
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 43994, this pair ranks #234,714 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of avoidable vs avoidance
Shared letters: adeiov. Private to "avoidable": bl. Private to "avoidance": cn.
"avoidable" · 9 letters · shape VCVVCVCCV · "avoidance" · 9 letters · shape VCVVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "avoidable" and "avoidance" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "avoidable" or "avoidance"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "avoidable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "avoidance" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #234,714 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "avoidable" and "avoidance" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avoidable vs Avondale". Nearby pair
- 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 #234,714 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.