withdraw vs withdrawal, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“withdraw” is a verb and “withdrawal” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,644
“withdraw” frequency rank: #6,645
“withdrawal” frequency rank: 13289
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	withdraw	withdrawal
Definition	To draw or pull (something) away or back from its original position or situation.	Receiving from someone's care what one has earlier entrusted to them. Usually refers to money.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set withdraw and withdrawal apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

withdraw

10 ch

withdrawal

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: withdraw is /wɪðˈdɹɔː/ while withdrawal is /wɪðˈdɹɔː(ə)l/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “withdraw” sits inside “withdrawal”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

withdraw is recorded at frequency rank #6,644, classified as averb, pronounced /wɪðˈdɹɔː/. withdrawal is at rank #6,645, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɪðˈdɹɔː(ə)l/.

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 13289, this pair ranks #476,676 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of withdraw vs withdrawal

Shared letters: adhirtw. Private to "withdraw": -. Private to "withdrawal": l.

"withdraw" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCCVC · "withdrawal" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

withdraw ← iwthdraw · wihtdraw · witdhraw · withdarw · withddraw · withdraww · withdrraw · withdrwa
withdrawal ← iwthdrawal · wihtdrawal · witdhrawal · withdarwal · withddrawal · withdraawl · withdrawall · withdrawla

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "withdraw" and "withdrawal" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "withdraw" is a verb and "withdrawal" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "withdraw" or "withdrawal"?

"withdraw" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,644 in our English list, against #6,645 for "withdrawal". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.