connectionvsconvictionWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,788
“connection” frequency rank
#5,668
“conviction” frequency rank
7456
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature connection conviction
Definition The act of connecting. A firmly held belief.

Where the eye mixes connection and conviction

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. connection 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
connection
10 ch
conviction

Look-alike desk: connection vs conviction

A purely visual mix-up. connection (/kəˈnɛkʃ(ə)n/) 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 7456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

connection is recorded at frequency rank #1,788, classified as anoun, pronounced /kəˈnɛkʃ(ə)n/. 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 7456, this pair ranks #507,018 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of connection vs conviction

Shared letters: cinot. Private to "connection": e. Private to "conviction": v.

"connection" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC  ·  "conviction" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • connection ← cconnection · cnonection · conection · conenction · conncetion · connecction · conneciton · connecsion
  • conviction ← cconviction · cnoviction · conivction · connviction · convcition · convicction · conviciton · convicsion

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "connection" and "conviction" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kəˈnɛkʃ(ə)n/ versus /kənˈvɪk.ʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "connection" vs "conviction" - which ranks higher?
"connection" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,788 in our English list, against #5,668 for "conviction". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "connection" 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 #507,018 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "connection" and "conviction" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concoction vs conviction". 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 #507,018 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