Confirmation or conformation?
confirmation is a noun meaning “An official indicator that things will happen as planned”; conformation is a noun meaning “The act of conforming; the act of producing conformity”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) confirmation is about 17 times as common as conformation.
What is the difference between confirmation and conformation?
| confirmation | conformation | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | An official indicator that things will happen as planned A verification that something is true or has happened | The act of conforming; the act of producing conformity The state of being conformed; agreement |
| Example | We will send you a written confirmation of your hotel booking | none recorded |
| Forms | confirmations | conformations |
| Pronunciation | /ˌkɑn.fəɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/ [ˌkʰɑɱ.fɚˈmeɪ.ʃn̩] /ˌkɒn.fəˈmeɪ.ʃən/ | /kɒn.fɔːˈmeɪ.ʃən/ /kɒn.fəˈmeɪʃən/ /kɑnfɚˈmeɪʃən/ |
| In writing | 12 times per million words | about once in every 1 million words |
Sources: confirmation and conformation in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of confirmation and conformation
confirmation
- 1
An official indicator that things will happen as planned
We will send you a written confirmation of your hotel booking
- 2
A verification that something is true or has happened
The announcement in the newspaper was a confirmation of my suspicions
- 3
A ceremony of sealing and conscious acknowledgement of the faith in many Christian churches, typically around the ages of 14 to 18; considered a sacrament in some churches, including Catholicism, but…
- 4
An act whereby something conditional or voidable is made sure and unavoidable, especially the possession of an estate
conformation
- 1
The act of conforming; the act of producing conformity
- 2
The state of being conformed; agreement
- 3
Structure, the arrangement of parts of some thing; form; arrangement
- 4
The spatial arrangement of a group of atoms in a molecule as a result of rotation about a covalent bond which remains unbroken
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, confirmation or conformation?
confirmation appears 12 times per million words; conformation about once in every 1 million words.
confirmation 12 times per million wordsconformation about once in every 1 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).