concessionvsconcussionWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,489
“concession” frequency rank
#13,689
“concussion” frequency rank
27178
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature concession concussion
Definition The act of conceding. A violent collision or shock.

Where the eye mixes concession and concussion

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

10 ch
concession
10 ch
concussion

Look-alike desk: concession vs concussion

A purely visual mix-up. concession (/kənˈsɛʃən/) and concussion (/kənˈkʌʃən/) 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 a single letter - e in “concession” becomes u in “concussion”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27178, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

concession is recorded at frequency rank #13,489, classified as anoun, pronounced /kənˈsɛʃən/. concussion is at rank #13,689, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kənˈkʌʃən/.

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 27178, this pair ranks #380,975 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of concession vs concussion

Shared letters: cinos. Private to "concession": e. Private to "concussion": u.

"concession" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC  ·  "concussion" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • concessioncconcession · cnocession · cocnession · conccession · concesion · concesison · concessino · concessionn
  • concussioncconcussion · cnocussion · cocnussion · conccussion · concsusion · concusion · concusison · concussino

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "concession" and "concussion" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kənˈsɛʃən/ versus /kənˈkʌʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "concession" vs "concussion" - which ranks higher?
"concession" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,489 in our English list, against #13,689 for "concussion". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "concession" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "concussion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #380,975 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "concession" and "concussion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concession vs congestion". 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 #380,975 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list