invitationvsinvitationalWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: invitation is a noun, invitational is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“invitation” is a noun and “invitational” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,700
“invitation” frequency rank
#23,572
“invitational” frequency rank
29272
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature invitation invitational
Definition The act of inviting; solicitation; the requesting of a person's company. Serving as an invitation; inviting.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set invitation and invitational apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
invitation
12 ch
invitational

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: invitation is anoun and invitationalanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “invitation” sits inside “invitational”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

invitation is recorded at frequency rank #5,700, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪn.vɪˈteɪ.ʃən/. invitational is at rank #23,572, tagged as anadj.

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 29272, this pair ranks #364,347 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of invitation vs invitational

Shared letters: ainotv. Private to "invitation": -. Private to "invitational": l.

"invitation" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVC  ·  "invitational" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • invitationinivtation · innvitation · inviattion · invitaiton · invitasion · invitatino · invitationn · invitatoin
  • invitationalinivtational · innvitational · inviattional · invitaitonal · invitatinoal · invitatioanl · invitationall · invitationla

Frequency comparison

invitation#5,700
invitational#23,572

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "invitation" and "invitational" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "invitation" is a noun and "invitational" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "invitation" or "invitational"?
"invitation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,700 in our English list, against #23,572 for "invitational". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering invitation vs invitational

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “invitation”; for an adjective, it's “invitational”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “invitation” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list