combingvscommingConfusable pair

Quick tell: combing is a noun, comming is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“combing” is a noun and “comming” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,873
“combing” frequency rank
#48,149
“comming” frequency rank
77022
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature combing comming
Definition The act by which something is combed. Obsolete spelling of coming, now an occasional misspelling.

Letter map: combing vs comming

Shared letters muted; letters that set combing and comming apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

7 ch
combing
7 ch
comming

Grammar separator: combing vs comming

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: combing is anoun and commingaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - b in “combing” becomes m in “comming”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77022, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

combing is recorded at frequency rank #28,873, classified as anoun. comming is at rank #48,149, tagged as averb.

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 77022, this pair ranks #28,445 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of combing vs comming

Shared letters: cgimno. Private to "combing": b. Private to "comming": -.

"combing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "comming" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • combingccombing · cmobing · cobming · combbing · combign · combingg · combinng · combnig
  • commingccomming · cmoming · comimng · commign · commingg · comminng · commnig · ocmming

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "combing" and "comming" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "combing" is a noun and "comming" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "combing" or "comming" show up more?
"combing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,873 in our English list, against #48,149 for "comming". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "combing" vs "comming" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "combing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comming" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,445 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "combing" and "comming" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coining vs comming". 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 #28,445 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