cunning vs cussing, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“cunning” is an adjective and “cussing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,999
“cunning” frequency rank: #44,148
“cussing” frequency rank: 60147
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cunning	cussing
Definition	Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.	present participle and gerund of cuss

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cunning and cussing apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

cunning

7 ch

cussing

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cunning is /ˈkʌnɪŋ/ while cussing is /ˈkʌsɪŋ/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60147, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cunning is recorded at frequency rank #15,999, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈkʌnɪŋ/. 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 60147, this pair ranks #101,916 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cunning vs cussing

Shared letters: cginu. Private to "cunning": -. Private to "cussing": s.

"cunning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "cussing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

cunning ← ccunning · cnuning · cuning · cuninng · cunnign · cunningg · cunninng · cunnnig
cussing ← ccussing · csusing · cusing · cusisng · cussign · cussingg · cussinng · cussnig

Frequency comparison

cunning#15,999

cussing#44,148

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cunning" and "cussing" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cunning" is an adjective and "cussing" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "cunning" or "cussing"?

"cunning" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,999 in our English list, against #44,148 for "cussing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cunning vs cussing

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “cunning”; for a verb, it's “cussing”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cunning” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable