connectingvscontestingTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,486
“connecting” frequency rank
#24,712
“contesting” frequency rank
30198
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature connecting contesting
Definition present participle and gerund of connect The act of one who contests something; a disputation.

Letter map: connecting vs contesting

Shared letters muted; letters that set connecting and contesting apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.

10 ch
connecting
10 ch
contesting

Grammar separator: connecting vs contesting

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: connecting is averb and contestinganoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30198, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

connecting is recorded at frequency rank #5,486, classified as averb, pronounced /kəˈnɛktɪŋ/. contesting is at rank #24,712, 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 30198, this pair ranks #356,579 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of connecting vs contesting

Shared letters: ceginot. Private to "connecting": -. Private to "contesting": s.

"connecting" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC  ·  "contesting" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • connectingcconnecting · cnonecting · conecting · conencting · connceting · conneccting · connecitng · connectign
  • contestingccontesting · cnotesting · conetsting · conntesting · contesitng · contessting · contestign · contestingg

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "connecting" and "contesting" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "connecting" is a verb and "contesting" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "connecting" or "contesting" show up more?
"connecting" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,486 in our English list, against #24,712 for "contesting". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "connecting" and "contesting". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "connecting" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contesting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #356,579 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "connecting" and "contesting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contending vs contesting". 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 #356,579 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