Which to use
“instigation” and “instigator” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,272
- “instigation” frequency rank
- #43,718
- “instigator” frequency rank
- 87990
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | instigation | instigator |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of instigating, or the state of being instigated; incitement; especially to evil or wickedness. | A person who intentionally instigates, incites, or starts something, especially one that creates trouble. |
Where the eye mixes instigation and instigator
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: instigation vs instigator
A purely visual mix-up. instigation (/ˌɪnstɪˈɡeɪʃən/) and instigator (/ˈɪnstɪɡeɪtə/) 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 87990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
instigation is recorded at frequency rank #44,272, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌɪnstɪˈɡeɪʃən/. instigator is at rank #43,718, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪnstɪɡeɪtə/.
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 87990, this pair ranks #6,912 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of instigation vs instigator
Shared letters: aginost. Private to "instigation": -. Private to "instigator": r.
"instigation" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCVCVVC · "instigator" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- instigation ← innstigation · insitgation · insstigation · instgiation · instiagtion · instigaiton · instigasion · instigatino
- instigator ← innstigator · insitgator · insstigator · instgiator · instiagtor · instigaotr · instigatorr · instigatro
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "instigation" for "instigator" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "instigation" or "instigator" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "instigation" and "instigator" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "instigation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "instigator" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,912 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "instigation" and "instigator" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "initiator vs instigator". 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 #6,912 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.