First off, I believe there is a spelling mistake. Vocation = typically means career or occupation Vacation = a period of suspension from work or school or a special day I believe you would like when to use holiday and vAcation. The meanings are very similar. I would venture to guess that they could be equally interchangable in most situations. In American however, we use them to refer to different things. We use "holiday" to mean a special day that is excused from work/school. Christmas, Vetern's Day, Thanksgiving are all "holidays". We use "vacation" to connotate a leave from work/school. "We are going on vacation to the Rocky Mountains." "We are on summer vacation." An easy way to think of it is 'is it short or long'? If it is only a day, use "holiday". If it is longer, such as a week or entire summer, use "vacation."

vocation is your chosen profession or job, so I think you mean vacation. Vacation and holiday these days mean the same thing to most people. Original meaning of holiday was "holy day", like easter or christmas it was a day off work to have time to perform your religious duties. Vacation just means time off work to go and relax, there is an undertone of meaning that implies you went somewhere too, and didnt just stay at home. A.