confederacy vs federation

confederacy and federation both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
confederacy	Yes	No	No	No
federation	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, confederacy and federation are synonyms defined as:

Other synonyms of confederacy include confederation.

confederacy (noun)	federation (noun)
a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act	the act of constituting a political unity out of a number of separate states or colonies or provinces so that each member retains the management of its internal affairs
a union of political organizations	a union of political organizations
a group of conspirators banded together to achieve some harmful or illegal purpose	an organization formed by merging several groups or parties