blindingvsblinkingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: blinding is a verb, blinking is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“blinding” is a verb and “blinking” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,301
“blinding” frequency rank
#19,535
“blinking” frequency rank
41836
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blinding blinking
Definition present participle and gerund of blind That blinks.

Letter map: blinding vs blinking

Shared letters muted; letters that set blinding and blinking apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.

8 ch
blinding
8 ch
blinking

Grammar separator: blinding vs blinking

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: blinding is averb and blinkinganadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - d in “blinding” becomes k in “blinking”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blinding is recorded at frequency rank #22,301, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈblaɪndɪŋ/. blinking is at rank #19,535, tagged as anadj.

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 41836, this pair ranks #254,697 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of blinding vs blinking

Shared letters: bgiln. Private to "blinding": d. Private to "blinking": k.

"blinding" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC  ·  "blinking" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blindingbblinding · bilnding · blidning · blindding · blindign · blindingg · blindinng · blindnig
  • blinkingbblinking · bilnking · blikning · blinikng · blinkign · blinkingg · blinkinng · blinkking

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "blinding" and "blinking" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "blinding" is a verb and "blinking" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "blinding" vs "blinking" - which ranks higher?
"blinking" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,535 in our English list, against #22,301 for "blinding". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "blinding" and "blinking".

  • Full dictionary entry for "blinding" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "blinking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #254,697 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "blinding" and "blinking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blacking vs blinking". 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 #254,697 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list