Which to use
“conceding” is a verb and “contending” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,120
- “conceding” frequency rank
- #27,412
- “contending” frequency rank
- 51532
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | conceding | contending |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of concede | contention |
Letter map: conceding vs contending
Shared letters muted; letters that set conceding and contending apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.
Part-of-speech tell for conceding / contending
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: conceding is averb and contendinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
conceding is recorded at frequency rank #24,120, classified as averb, pronounced /kənˈsiːdɪŋ/. contending is at rank #27,412, tagged as anoun.
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 51532, this pair ranks #164,678 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of conceding vs contending
Shared letters: cdegino. Private to "conceding": -. Private to "contending": t.
"conceding" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC · "contending" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- conceding ← cconceding · cnoceding · cocneding · concceding · concdeing · concedding · concedign · concedingg
- contending ← ccontending · cnotending · conetnding · conntending · contedning · contendding · contendign · contendingg
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "conceding" and "contending" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "conceding" vs "contending" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "conceding" and "contending".
- Full dictionary entry for "conceding" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contending" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,678 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "conceding" and "contending" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "condensing vs contending". 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 #164,678 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.