invitationvsinvocationConfusable pair

Which to use

“invitation” and “invocation” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,867
“invitation” frequency rank
#24,257
“invocation” frequency rank
29124
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature invitation invocation
Definition Action d’inviter. Action d’invoquer.

Where the eye mixes invitation and invocation

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

10 ch
invitation
10 ch
invocation

Visual trap between invitation and invocation

A purely visual mix-up. invitation (\ɛ̃.vi.ta.sjɔ̃\) and invocation (\ɛ̃.vɔ.ka.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

invitation is recorded at frequency rank #4,867, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.vi.ta.sjɔ̃\. invocation is at rank #24,257, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.vɔ.ka.sjɔ̃\.

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 29124, this pair ranks #318,595 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of invitation vs invocation

Shared letters: ainotv. Private to "invitation": -. Private to "invocation": c.

"invitation" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVC  ·  "invocation" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • invitationinivtation · innvitation · inviattion · invitaiton · invitatino · invitationn · invitatoin · invitattion
  • invocationinnvocation · inovcation · invcoation · invoaction · invocaiton · invocatino · invocationn · invocatoin

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "invitation" and "invocation" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.vi.ta.sjɔ̃\ versus \ɛ̃.vɔ.ka.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "invitation" or "invocation" show up more?
"invitation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,867 in our French list, against #24,257 for "invocation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "invitation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "invocation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,595 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "invitation" and "invocation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "invocation vs invocations". 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 #318,595 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list