Which to use
“precondition” and “premonition” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,597
- “precondition” frequency rank
- #44,417
- “premonition” frequency rank
- 90014
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | precondition | premonition |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A condition that requires satisfaction before taking a course of action. | A clairvoyant or clairaudient experience, such as a dream, which resonates with some event in the future. |
Where the eye mixes precondition and premonition
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between precondition and premonition
A purely visual mix-up. precondition (/ˌpɹiːkənˈdɪʃən/) and premonition (/ˌpriːməˈnɪʃən/) 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 90014, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
precondition is recorded at frequency rank #45,597, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌpɹiːkənˈdɪʃən/. premonition is at rank #44,417, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌpriːməˈnɪʃən/.
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 90014, this pair ranks #4,573 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of precondition vs premonition
Shared letters: einoprt. Private to "precondition": cd. Private to "premonition": m.
"precondition" · 12 letters · shape CCVCVCCVCVVC · "premonition" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- precondition ← percondition · pprecondition · prceondition · preccondition · precnodition · precodnition · preconddition · precondiiton
- premonition ← permonition · ppremonition · premmonition · premnoition · premointion · premoniiton · premonision · premonitino
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "precondition" for "premonition" ever safe?
Frequency check: "precondition" vs "premonition" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "precondition" and "premonition" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "precondition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "premonition" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,573 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "precondition" and "premonition" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "premonition vs preposition". 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 #4,573 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.