Which to use
“competition” and “composition” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,300
- “competition” frequency rank
- #4,069
- “composition” frequency rank
- 5369
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | competition | composition |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The action of competing. | The act of putting together; assembly. |
Where the eye mixes competition and composition
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: competition vs composition
A purely visual mix-up. competition (/ˌkɒm.pəˈtɪʃ.ən/) and composition (/ˌkɒmpəˈzɪʃən/) 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 5369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
competition is recorded at frequency rank #1,300, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌkɒm.pəˈtɪʃ.ən/. composition is at rank #4,069, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌkɒmpəˈzɪʃən/.
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 5369, this pair ranks #515,596 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of competition vs composition
Shared letters: cimnopt. Private to "competition": e. Private to "composition": s.
"competition" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVC · "composition" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- competition ← ccompetition · cmopetition · comeptition · commpetition · compeittion · competiiton · competision · competitino
- composition ← ccomposition · cmoposition · commposition · comopsition · compoistion · composiiton · composision · compositino
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "competition" and "composition" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "competition" or "composition" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "competition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "composition" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #515,596 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "competition" and "composition" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "composition vs compositional". 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 #515,596 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.