Competition Used In A Sentence | Real Examples That Fit

“Competition” pops up in essays, sports write-ups, business notes, and everyday chats. The part that trips people up isn’t spelling. It’s picking the right meaning, then placing the word in a sentence that sounds normal.

This guide gives you clean sentence patterns, plenty of ready-to-use lines, and quick ways to avoid the mistakes teachers circle fast. You’ll also get short practice prompts near the end so you can write your own sentences without second-guessing.

Competition Used In A Sentence With Clear Meanings

Before you write, pick what “competition” means in your line. Most uses fall into three buckets: a contest event, rivalry for the same goal, or the rivals themselves. Once you lock that in, the sentence builds itself.

Meaning In Context	When This Fits	Sample Sentence
A contest or event	Sports, prizes, school contests, auditions	She entered the baking competition and won third place.
Rivalry for a goal	Jobs, grades, customers, limited seats	Competition for the internship was fierce, so he revised his CV twice.
The rival people or brands	Business, teams, opponents, other candidates	Before the pitch, she studied the competition and adjusted her pricing.
A head-to-head rivalry	Two clear sides, ongoing tension	The competition between the two clubs kept the derby intense.
A selection race	Scholarships, admissions, shortlists	With only ten spots, the program became a tough competition.
A friendly challenge	Games at home, class challenges, low stakes	We turned chores into a competition, and everyone moved faster.
Pressure from alternatives	Stores, services, choices in a market	The new café is facing competition from the place across the street.
A judged performance	Talent shows, speeches, debates	The speech competition rewarded clear points and calm delivery.

Pick The Meaning First, Then Build The Sentence

A fast way to test your meaning is a simple swap. If you can replace “competition” with “contest,” you’re writing about an event. If you can replace it with “rivalry,” you’re writing about people chasing the same prize, job, grade, or customer.

If your sentence is about people or brands, “competitors” or “the competition” may be the better fit. That one choice can clean up a whole paragraph.

When “Competition” Means An Event

This sense works when there’s a date, a prize, judges, rounds, or a final result. You’ll often see it with an article: “a competition,” “the competition,” “this competition.”

• I trained for weeks for a science competition at school.
• The photo competition closes on Friday at midnight.
• Our team travelled to Dublin for a weekend competition.
• He watched the competition from the back row and took notes.

When “Competition” Means Rivalry

This sense is about pressure and demand. It often behaves like an uncountable noun, so it may appear without “a.”

• Competition for apartments rose after the new campus opened.
• She felt competition from classmates who always finished early.
• There’s stiff competition for places on the course.
• Competition in the local market pushed shops to improve service.

When “Competition” Means The Rivals

Writers often use “the competition” as a short way to mean rival teams, brands, or candidates. It’s common in business writing and sports talk.

• Our shop can’t ignore the competition on delivery speed.
• The striker respected the competition, but he played his own game.
• She tracked the competition for weeks before launching her product.
• They priced the plan to beat the competition by a small margin.

Sentence Patterns That Make “Competition” Sound Natural

Strong writing often comes from repeatable patterns. Use these as templates, then swap in your own topic. If you want a quick refresher on sentence types, Purdue OWL’s guide is a solid reference for clean structure and variety: Purdue OWL sentence types.

Reliable Templates You Can Reuse

• There is competition for + noun: There is competition for every spot on the roster.
• Competition for + noun + is + adjective: Competition for the scholarship is fierce.
• Competition between + groups + verb: Competition between the two firms keeps prices steady.
• In competition with + noun: The new app is in competition with older tools.
• Face competition from + noun: Local shops face competition from online sellers.
• Win the competition + detail: She won the competition with a clear, simple argument.

Small Grammar Choices That Change Meaning

Three tiny options change what your reader thinks you mean. Get these right and your sentence will feel smoother.

• a competition = one event: He won a competition last weekend.
• competition = rivalry in general: Competition keeps players training hard.
• the competition = the rivals: The competition released a cheaper plan.

Competition Used In A Sentence In School Writing

In school tasks, “competition” often points to limited spots, marks, awards, or team selection. Your goal is clarity. Say what people wanted, what was limited, and what the result was. That’s it.

Academic Style Sentences

• Competition for research funding can shape which projects move forward.
• Healthy competition can raise effort when rules are clear and fair.
• Competition among firms can lower prices and widen choice for buyers.
• Increased competition for university places can raise entry requirements.
• Competition for time in the timetable forced the club to meet after school.

Narrative Style Sentences

• The competition started at noon, and my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
• I saw the competition warming up and felt my stomach drop.
• By the last round, the competition felt less scary and more fun.
• When my name was called, the competition noise faded into the background.

Word Partners That Commonly Sit Next To “Competition”

Many “off” sentences aren’t wrong grammar. They just sound odd. Learning common word partners fixes that fast. You don’t need a huge list. Pick a few that match your topic and reuse them.

Adjectives That Fit Real Writing

• fierce competition
• stiff competition
• friendly competition
• open competition
• fair competition
• close competition

Verbs That Pair Well

• enter a competition
• win a competition
• lose a competition
• face competition
• reduce competition
• increase competition

Prepositions That Keep Meaning Clean

• competition for a place, a job, a prize
• competition between two teams, two brands
• competition with a rival (less common, still fine)
• in competition with another product or service

Common Mistakes With “Competition” And Clean Fixes

Most mistakes fall into a few patterns: using “competition” when you mean “competitors,” adding an article when you mean rivalry in general, or picking the wrong preposition. Fixing them is usually a one-word change.

Slip-Up	Cleaner Version	Why It Reads Better
I have many competitions in my class.	I have a lot of competition in my class.	Rivalry is uncountable here.
The competition was many, so I lost.	There were many competitors, so I lost.	Use “competitors” for people.
She joined competition yesterday.	She joined a competition yesterday.	Add “a” for one event.
Competition between me and my friend are strong.	Competition between my friend and me is strong.	Subject-verb match.
The company is in competition for Apple.	The company is in competition with Apple.	“With” fits rivalry between rivals.
There is a competition for water in the desert.	There is competition for water in the desert.	No article for general scarcity.
He did competition to get the prize.	He competed to get the prize.	Use the verb for the action.

Quick Practice Prompts To Build Your Own Sentences

Practice works best when you set a tiny target. Write one clean sentence first. Then add detail. Aim for accuracy, not length.

Fill The Blank

• There was strong __________ for the weekend jobs.
• She entered a singing __________ and surprised herself.
• Our store faces __________ from bigger chains.
• Competition between the two teams __________ the match tense.

Change The Meaning On Purpose

Write two sentences using the same topic, then shift the meaning.

• Sentence A: “competition” = an event with a prize.
• Sentence B: “competition” = rivalry for the same goal.
• Sentence C: “the competition” = the rivals you’re up against.

Upgrade A Plain Sentence

Start with this line, then sharpen it by adding a goal and a setting:

• The competition was hard.

Try: “The competition for the captain role was hard during tryouts.” Or: “The competition was hard because only one project could win funding.”

Final Self-Check Before You Hit Submit

Ask yourself one question: what does “competition” mean in my sentence? If it’s an event, use “a competition” or “the competition.” If it’s rivalry in general, drop the article. If you mean people, swap to “competitors” or keep “the competition” when you mean rivals as a group.

If you want a quick meaning check while you write, this dictionary entry keeps the core senses clear: Cambridge Dictionary definition of “competition”.

To wrap up your practice, write two lines that include the phrase “competition used in a sentence” as plain text in your notes, then write two cleaner versions that sound natural in a real paragraph. Use any topic you know well. After a few rounds, “competition used in a sentence” stops being a prompt and becomes a skill.

Here are two clean starters you can copy and adjust: “Competition for the award pushed me to revise my draft.” “The competition between the teams stayed friendly, even after overtime.”

Now write four fresh sentences: one about school, one about sports, one about work, and one about a hobby. Keep each sentence specific, and keep it readable.