conditionvscontritionWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,450
“condition” frequency rank
#45,859
“contrition” frequency rank
47309
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature condition contrition
Definition A state or quality. The state of being contrite; sincere penitence or remorse.

Where the eye mixes condition and contrition

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
condition
10 ch
contrition

Visual trap between condition and contrition

A purely visual mix-up. condition (/kənˈdɪʃ(ə)n/) and contrition (/kənˈtɹɪʃən/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47309, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

condition is recorded at frequency rank #1,450, classified as anoun, pronounced /kənˈdɪʃ(ə)n/. contrition is at rank #45,859, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kənˈtɹɪʃən/.

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 47309, this pair ranks #203,634 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of condition vs contrition

Shared letters: cinot. Private to "condition": d. Private to "contrition": r.

"condition" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "contrition" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • conditionccondition · cnodition · codnition · conddition · condiiton · condision · conditino · conditionn
  • contritionccontrition · cnotrition · conntrition · conrtition · contirtion · contriiton · contrision · contritino

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "condition" for "contrition" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kənˈdɪʃ(ə)n/ versus /kənˈtɹɪʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "condition" vs "contrition" - which ranks higher?
"condition" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,450 in our English list, against #45,859 for "contrition". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "condition" and "contrition" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "condition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contrition" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #203,634 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "condition" and "contrition" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "constriction vs contrition". 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 #203,634 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