Which to use
“ceasing” is a verb and “craving” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,977
- “ceasing” frequency rank
- #13,694
- “craving” frequency rank
- 47671
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ceasing | craving |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of cease | A strong desire; yearning. |
Where the eye mixes ceasing and craving
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ceasing with craving
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ceasing is /ˈsiːsɪŋ/ while craving is /ˈkɹeɪ.vɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47671, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ceasing is recorded at frequency rank #33,977, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsiːsɪŋ/. craving is at rank #13,694, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹeɪ.vɪŋ/.
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 47671, this pair ranks #200,256 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ceasing vs craving
Shared letters: acgin. Private to "ceasing": es. Private to "craving": rv.
"ceasing" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "craving" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ceasing" and "craving" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ceasing" or "craving"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ceasing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "craving" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #200,256 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ceasing" and "craving" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceasing vs ceding". 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 #200,256 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.