Which to use
“companion” and “compassion” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,772
- “companion” frequency rank
- #7,664
- “compassion” frequency rank
- 13436
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | companion | compassion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A friend, acquaintance, or partner; someone with whom one spends time or accompanies | Deep awareness of the suffering of others that people have to the point of them being motivated to relieve such states. |
Where the eye mixes companion and compassion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: companion vs compassion
A purely visual mix-up. companion (/kəmˈpæn.jən/) and compassion (/kəmˈpæʃ.ən/) 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 13436, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
companion is recorded at frequency rank #5,772, classified as anoun, pronounced /kəmˈpæn.jən/. compassion is at rank #7,664, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/.
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 13436, this pair ranks #475,821 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of companion vs compassion
Shared letters: acimnop. Private to "companion": -. Private to "compassion": s.
"companion" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC · "compassion" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- companion ← ccompanion · cmopanion · comapnion · commpanion · compainon · companino · companionn · compannion
- compassion ← ccompassion · cmopassion · comapssion · commpassion · compasion · compasison · compassino · compassionn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "companion" and "compassion" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "companion" or "compassion"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "companion" and "compassion" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "companion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "compassion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #475,821 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "companion" and "compassion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "compassion vs compulsion". 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 #475,821 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.