Which to use
“crushing” and “cussing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,157
- “crushing” frequency rank
- #44,148
- “cussing” frequency rank
- 53305
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crushing | cussing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of crush | present participle and gerund of cuss |
Where the eye mixes crushing and cussing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. crushing runs 8 letters (CCVCCVCC) against cussing's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between crushing and cussing
A purely visual mix-up. crushing (/ˈkɹʌ.ʃɪŋ/) and cussing (/ˈkʌsɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crushing is recorded at frequency rank #9,157, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈkɹʌ.ʃɪŋ/. cussing is at rank #44,148, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈkʌsɪŋ/.
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 53305, this pair ranks #150,050 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crushing vs cussing
Shared letters: cginsu. Private to "crushing": hr. Private to "cussing": -.
"crushing" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC · "cussing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crushing" for "cussing" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "crushing" or "cussing" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "crushing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cussing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #150,050 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crushing" and "cussing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cupping vs cussing". 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 #150,050 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.