Which to use
“concession” and “confession” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,489
- “concession” frequency rank
- #8,527
- “confession” frequency rank
- 22016
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | concession | confession |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of conceding. | The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad). |
Where the eye mixes concession and confession
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. concession and confession follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between concession and confession
A purely visual mix-up. concession (/kənˈsɛʃən/) and confession (/kənˈfɛʃən/) 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 - c in “concession” becomes f in “confession”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22016, 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/. confession is at rank #8,527, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kənˈfɛʃən/.
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 22016, this pair ranks #419,690 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of concession vs confession
Shared letters: ceinos. Private to "concession": -. Private to "confession": f.
"concession" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC · "confession" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- concession ← cconcession · cnocession · cocnession · conccession · concesion · concesison · concessino · concessionn
- confession ← cconfession · cnofession · cofnession · conefssion · confesion · confesison · confessino · confessionn
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "concession" and "confession" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "concession" or "confession" 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 "concession" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "confession" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #419,690 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "concession" and "confession" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "confession vs confessor". 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 #419,690 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.