# assisting vs assistive

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### assisting
*verb · IPA /əˈsɪstɪŋ/ · frequency rank #9,701*
present participle and gerund of assist

### assistive
*adjective · IPA /əˈsɪstɪv/ · frequency rank #48,073*
Providing or designed to provide assistance, especially to persons with a disability

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/assisting-vs-assistive