Which to use
“damning” is a verb and “Denning” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,340
- “damning” frequency rank
- #42,086
- “Denning” frequency rank
- 64426
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | damning | Denning |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of damn | A surname. |
Letter map: damning vs Denning
Shared letters muted; letters that set damning and Denning apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. damning and Denning follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Role in the sentence - damning and Denning
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: damning is averb and Denninganame. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
damning is recorded at frequency rank #22,340, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdæmɪŋ/. Denning is at rank #42,086, tagged as aname.
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 64426, this pair ranks #77,779 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of damning vs Denning
Shared letters: dgin. Private to "damning": am. Private to "Denning": e.
"damning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "Denning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "damning" for "Denning" ever safe?
Frequency check: "damning" vs "Denning" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "damning" and "Denning". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "damning" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Denning" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #77,779 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "damning" and "Denning" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deeming vs Denning". 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 #77,779 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.