chokingvsclockingWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“choking” and “clocking” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,299
“choking” frequency rank
#33,986
“clocking” frequency rank
47285
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature choking clocking
Definition The process in which a person's airway becomes blocked, resulting in asphyxia in cases that are not treated promptly. A time measurement made according to a clock.

Letter map: choking vs clocking

Shared letters muted; letters that set choking and clocking apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

7 ch
choking
8 ch
clocking

Spelling & dictionary notes on choking vs clocking

choking and clocking are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47285, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

choking is recorded at frequency rank #13,299, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtʃəʊkɪŋ/. clocking is at rank #33,986, tagged as anoun.

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 47285, this pair ranks #203,856 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of choking vs clocking

Shared letters: cgikno. Private to "choking": h. Private to "clocking": l.

"choking" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC  ·  "clocking" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chokingcchoking · chhoking · chkoing · choikng · chokign · chokingg · chokinng · chokking
  • clockingcclocking · clcoking · cllocking · cloccking · clocikng · clockign · clockingg · clockinng

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "choking" and "clocking" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "choking" or "clocking"?
"choking" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,299 in our English list, against #33,986 for "clocking". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "choking" and "clocking".

  • Full dictionary entry for "choking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clocking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #203,856 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "choking" and "clocking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clocking vs clouding". 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 #203,856 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