The debate over submittal vs submission is quieter than most grammar arguments, mainly because both words are real. Neither is a misspelling. But they aren't freely interchangeable, and reaching for the wrong one in a formal or professional context can make your writing look slightly off to the people who know the difference.
What each word means
Submission is the older and broader of the two. It covers any act of handing something over, presenting something for review, or yielding to authority. You submit a manuscript to a publisher. A wrestler taps out in submission. A country signs terms of submission to a conqueror. The word carries that full range: documents, defeat, deference.
Submittal is narrower. It lives almost exclusively in construction, engineering, and project management, where it refers to specific documents, drawings, product data sheets, or samples that a contractor sends to an architect or engineer for approval. In that world, a submittal isn't just any document: it's a defined deliverable in a formal review process. You wouldn't say a poet sent a "submittal" to a magazine.
How each word is used in practice
In everyday writing, submission is almost always the right choice. Job applications, academic papers, legal filings, competition entries: all of these are submissions. The word slots naturally into any context where someone is handing something over to an authority or audience.
Submittal appears in construction contracts and project documentation. An architect's specification might include a "submittal schedule" listing every shop drawing, material sample, and product data sheet a contractor must provide before work begins. That usage is standard in American construction practice. Outside that field, though, submittal sounds awkward and jargon-heavy.
A few examples make the boundary clear:
- "The contractor sent the submittal package to the architect for review." (construction context, correct)
- "Her submission to the literary journal was accepted." (general context, correct)
- "Please confirm receipt of my submittal." (general email, sounds odd)
Why the confusion happens
Both words derive from the Latin submittere, meaning "to place under" or "to send up." English borrowed the concept through different routes and ended up with two nouns for roughly the same action. Submission arrived first, through Old French, sometime in the late 14th century. Submittal came later, built directly on the verb "submit" using the standard English suffix -al, which turns verbs into nouns (like "referral" from "refer" or "approval" from "approve").
The -al suffix is productive in English, which means speakers and writers can attach it to new verbs fairly freely. That's why submittal feels intuitive even to people who've never worked in construction: it follows a pattern the brain already knows. But intuitive doesn't always mean accepted, and outside the construction industry, submittal has never gained the same broad recognition as submission.
This pattern of two words competing for the same role shows up elsewhere in English. Compare use vs usage, where both words trace the same root but occupy different registers and contexts.
Which one should you use?
Default to submission. It works in every context: academic, creative, legal, professional, casual. It's understood by every English speaker without needing a glossary.
Use submittal only when you're writing within a construction or engineering context, or when you're reading or producing documents where that term is already established. A request for information (RFI), a shop drawing log, an architect's submittal register: these are the right homes for the word.
If you're outside that world and you've been using submittal because it sounds more formal than submission, switch back. Submission is formal enough. Submittal in the wrong context reads as jargon, not precision.
A quick memory trick
Think of it this way: submittal rhymes with the world of steel and metal. If you're working on a building, a submittal fits. Everywhere else, stick with submission.
This is the same kind of register sensitivity that applies to pairs like practicable vs practical: one word is a specialist term with a narrow home, and the other handles the general case. Knowing the difference keeps your writing clean in both worlds.
Summary
Submission is the general-purpose word for any act of handing something in, presenting something for review, or yielding to authority. Submittal is a construction and engineering term for a specific type of document or sample sent for formal approval. In formal and professional writing outside those industries, submission is the correct and expected choice. Submittal used in the wrong context doesn't make you sound more precise. It makes you sound like you picked up the wrong style guide.