Which to use
“Cummings” is a name and “cuttings” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,793
- “Cummings” frequency rank
- #27,797
- “cuttings” frequency rank
- 43590
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Cummings | cuttings |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname. | plural of cutting |
Where the eye mixes Cummings and cuttings
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. Cummings and cuttings follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Cummings vs cuttings
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Cummings is /ˈkʌmɪŋz/ while cuttings is /ˈkʌtɪŋz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Cummings is recorded at frequency rank #15,793, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈkʌmɪŋz/. cuttings is at rank #27,797, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkʌtɪŋz/.
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 43590, this pair ranks #238,548 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Cummings vs cuttings
Shared letters: cginsu. Private to "Cummings": m. Private to "cuttings": t.
"Cummings" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC · "cuttings" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Cummings" and "cuttings" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Cummings" or "cuttings"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Cummings" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cuttings" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #238,548 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Cummings" and "cuttings" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comming vs Cummings". 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 #238,548 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.