concoctionvsconvictionWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,499
“concoction” frequency rank
#5,668
“conviction” frequency rank
42167
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature concoction conviction
Definition The preparing of a medicine, food or other substance out of many ingredients. A firmly held belief.

Where the eye mixes concoction and conviction

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. concoction and conviction follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
concoction
10 ch
conviction

Why the eye confuses concoction with conviction

A purely visual mix-up. concoction (/kənˈkɒkʃən/) and conviction (/kənˈvɪk.ʃən/) 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 42167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

concoction is recorded at frequency rank #36,499, classified as anoun, pronounced /kənˈkɒkʃən/. conviction is at rank #5,668, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kənˈvɪk.ʃən/.

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 42167, this pair ranks #251,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of concoction vs conviction

Shared letters: cinot. Private to "concoction": -. Private to "conviction": v.

"concoction" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC  ·  "conviction" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • concoction ← cconcoction · cnocoction · cocnoction · conccoction · conccotion · concocction · concociton · concocsion
  • conviction ← cconviction · cnoviction · conivction · connviction · convcition · convicction · conviciton · convicsion

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "concoction" and "conviction" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kənˈkɒkʃən/ versus /kənˈvɪk.ʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "concoction" or "conviction"?
"conviction" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,668 in our English list, against #36,499 for "concoction". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "concoction" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "conviction" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #251,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "concoction" and "conviction" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concoction vs convocation". 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 #251,712 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