constructingvsconstructionTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,123
“constructing” frequency rank
#1,137
“construction” frequency rank
14260
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature constructing construction
Definition An act of construction. The process of constructing.

Letter map: constructing vs construction

Shared letters muted; letters that set constructing and construction apart highlighted. Shared run: 11.

12 ch
constructing
12 ch
construction

Spelling & dictionary notes on constructing vs construction

constructing and construction 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14260, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

constructing is recorded at frequency rank #13,123, classified as anoun. construction is at rank #1,137, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kənˈstɹʌkʃən/.

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 14260, this pair ranks #471,106 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of constructing vs construction

Shared letters: cinorstu. Private to "constructing": g. Private to "construction": -.

"constructing" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCVCC  ·  "construction" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • constructingcconstructing · cnostructing · connstructing · consrtucting · consstructing · constrcuting · constrructing · construccting
  • constructioncconstruction · cnostruction · connstruction · consrtuction · consstruction · constrcution · constrruction · construcction

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "constructing" for "construction" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "constructing" or "construction" show up more?
"construction" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,137 in our English list, against #13,123 for "constructing". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "constructing" and "construction". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "constructing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "construction" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #471,106 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "constructing" and "construction" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "constriction vs construction". 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 #471,106 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