Which to use
“concussion” and “confession” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,689
- “concussion” frequency rank
- #8,527
- “confession” frequency rank
- 22216
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | concussion | confession |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A violent collision or shock. | The open admittance of having done something (especially something bad). |
Where the eye mixes concussion and confession
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. concussion and confession follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: concussion vs confession
A purely visual mix-up. concussion (/kənˈkʌʃən/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22216, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
concussion is recorded at frequency rank #13,689, classified as anoun, pronounced /kənˈkʌʃən/. 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 22216, this pair ranks #418,183 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of concussion vs confession
Shared letters: cinos. Private to "concussion": u. Private to "confession": ef.
"concussion" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC · "confession" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- concussion ← cconcussion · cnocussion · cocnussion · conccussion · concsusion · concusion · concusison · concussino
- confession ← cconfession · cnofession · cofnession · conefssion · confesion · confesison · confessino · confessionn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "concussion" for "confession" ever safe?
Frequency check: "concussion" vs "confession" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "concussion" and "confession" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "concussion" 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 #418,183 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "concussion" 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 #418,183 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.