Which to use
“amazing” and “amusing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #821
- “amazing” frequency rank
- #10,162
- “amusing” frequency rank
- 10983
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | amazing | amusing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of amaze | present participle and gerund of amuse |
Where the eye mixes amazing and amusing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: amazing vs amusing
A purely visual mix-up. amazing (/əˈmeɪzɪŋ/) and amusing (/əˈmjuːzɪŋ/) 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 10983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
amazing is recorded at frequency rank #821, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈmeɪzɪŋ/. amusing is at rank #10,162, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈmjuːzɪŋ/.
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 10983, this pair ranks #489,481 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of amazing vs amusing
Shared letters: agimn. Private to "amazing": z. Private to "amusing": su.
"amazing" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCC · "amusing" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "amazing" and "amusing" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "amazing" or "amusing" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "amazing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "amusing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #489,481 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "amazing" and "amusing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amusing vs arousing". 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 #489,481 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.