commentatingvscommentingConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#46,388
“commentating” frequency rank
#9,151
“commenting” frequency rank
55539
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature commentating commenting
Definition present participle and gerund of commentate The making of a comment; commentary.

Letter map: commentating vs commenting

Shared letters muted; letters that set commentating and commenting apart highlighted. Shared run: 10.

12 ch
commentating
10 ch
commenting

Role in the sentence - commentating and commenting

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: commentating is averb and commentinganoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55539, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

commentating is recorded at frequency rank #46,388, classified as averb. commenting is at rank #9,151, 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 55539, this pair ranks #132,877 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of commentating vs commenting

Shared letters: cegimnot. Private to "commentating": a. Private to "commenting": -.

"commentating" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVCC  ·  "commenting" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • commentatingccommentating · cmomentating · comemntating · comentating · commenatting · commenntating · commentaitng · commentatign
  • commentingccommenting · cmomenting · comemnting · comenting · commenitng · commennting · commentign · commentingg

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "commentating" and "commenting" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "commentating" is a verb and "commenting" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "commentating" vs "commenting" - which ranks higher?
"commenting" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,151 in our English list, against #46,388 for "commentating". 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 "commentating" and "commenting".

  • Full dictionary entry for "commentating" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "commenting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #132,877 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "commentating" and "commenting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cementing vs commenting". 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 #132,877 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