dominationvsdominionWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,202
“domination” frequency rank
#11,879
“dominion” frequency rank
23081
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature domination dominion
Definition Control by means of superior ability, influence, position, or resources; prevailing force. Power or the use of power; sovereignty over something; stewardship, supremacy.

Where the eye mixes domination and dominion

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

10 ch
domination
8 ch
dominion

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. domination (/ˌdɒməˈneɪʃən/) and dominion (/dəˈmɪnjən/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23081, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

domination is recorded at frequency rank #11,202, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌdɒməˈneɪʃən/. dominion is at rank #11,879, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dəˈmɪnjən/.

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 23081, this pair ranks #411,868 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of domination vs dominion

Shared letters: dimno. Private to "domination": at. Private to "dominion": -.

"domination" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC  ·  "dominion" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dominationddomination · dmoination · doimnation · domiantion · dominaiton · dominasion · dominatino · dominationn
  • dominionddominion · dmoinion · doimnion · domiinon · dominino · dominionn · dominnion · dominoin

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "domination" and "dominion" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˌdɒməˈneɪʃən/ versus /dəˈmɪnjən/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "domination" or "dominion"?
"domination" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,202 in our English list, against #11,879 for "dominion". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list