Which to use
“damning” is a verb and “dunning” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,340
- “damning” frequency rank
- #34,865
- “dunning” frequency rank
- 57205
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | damning | dunning |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of damn | Attempt to collect a debt. |
Letter map: damning vs dunning
Shared letters muted; letters that set damning and dunning apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. damning and dunning 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 dunning
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: damning is averb and dunninganoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57205, 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/. dunning is at rank #34,865, tagged as anoun.
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 57205, this pair ranks #120,891 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of damning vs dunning
Shared letters: dgin. Private to "damning": am. Private to "dunning": u.
"damning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "dunning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "damning" and "dunning" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "damning" or "dunning" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "damning" vs "dunning" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "damning" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dunning" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #120,891 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "damning" and "dunning" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Denning vs dunning". 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 #120,891 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.