divinationvsdominationWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,207
“divination” frequency rank
#11,202
“domination” frequency rank
44409
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature divination domination
Definition The act of divining; a foreseeing or foretelling of future events. Control by means of superior ability, influence, position, or resources; prevailing force.

Where the eye mixes divination and domination

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

10 ch
divination
10 ch
domination

Why the eye confuses divination with domination

A purely visual mix-up. divination (/ˌdɪvɪˈneɪʃən/) and domination (/ˌdɒməˈneɪʃən/) 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 44409, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

divination is recorded at frequency rank #33,207, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌdɪvɪˈneɪʃən/. domination is at rank #11,202, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌdɒməˈneɪʃən/.

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 44409, this pair ranks #230,815 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of divination vs domination

Shared letters: adinot. Private to "divination": v. Private to "domination": m.

"divination" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC  ·  "domination" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • divinationddivination · diivnation · diviantion · divinaiton · divinasion · divinatino · divinationn · divinatoin
  • dominationddomination · dmoination · doimnation · domiantion · dominaiton · dominasion · dominatino · dominationn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "divination" and "domination" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˌdɪvɪˈneɪʃən/ versus /ˌdɒməˈneɪʃən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "divination" or "domination"?
"domination" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,202 in our English list, against #33,207 for "divination". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "divination" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "domination" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #230,815 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "divination" and "domination" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deviation vs divination". 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 #230,815 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