Which to use
“completing” is a verb and “complying” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,451
- “completing” frequency rank
- #22,040
- “complying” frequency rank
- 28491
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | completing | complying |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of complete | That complies |
Where the eye mixes completing and complying
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between completing and complying
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: completing is /kəmˈpliːtɪŋ/ while complying is /kəmˈplaɪ.ɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28491, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
completing is recorded at frequency rank #6,451, classified as averb, pronounced /kəmˈpliːtɪŋ/. complying is at rank #22,040, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kəmˈplaɪ.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 28491, this pair ranks #370,649 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of completing vs complying
Shared letters: cgilmnop. Private to "completing": et. Private to "complying": y.
"completing" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCC · "complying" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- completing ← ccompleting · cmopleting · comlpeting · commpleting · compelting · compleitng · completign · completingg
- complying ← ccomplying · cmoplying · comlpying · commplying · compliyng · compllying · complyign · complyingg
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "completing" and "complying" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "completing" or "complying" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "completing" and "complying" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "completing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "complying" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #370,649 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "completing" and "complying" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "completing vs composting". 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 #370,649 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.