Which to use
“blushing” and “brushing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,018
- “blushing” frequency rank
- #14,908
- “brushing” frequency rank
- 40926
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blushing | brushing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of blush | present participle and gerund of brush |
Where the eye mixes blushing and brushing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between blushing and brushing
A purely visual mix-up. blushing (/ˈblʌʃɪŋ/) and brushing (/ˈbɹʌʃ.ɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - l in “blushing” becomes r in “brushing”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blushing is recorded at frequency rank #26,018, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈblʌʃɪŋ/. brushing is at rank #14,908, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈbɹʌʃ.ɪŋ/.
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 40926, this pair ranks #263,138 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of blushing vs brushing
Shared letters: bghinsu. Private to "blushing": l. Private to "brushing": r.
"blushing" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC · "brushing" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "blushing" for "brushing" ever safe?
Frequency check: "blushing" vs "brushing" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "blushing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "brushing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #263,138 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blushing" and "brushing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blushing vs bushing". 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 #263,138 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.