Which to use
“dancing” is a noun and “denying” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,986
- “dancing” frequency rank
- #7,673
- “denying” frequency rank
- 10659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dancing | denying |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The activity of taking part in a dance. | present participle and gerund of deny |
Where the eye mixes dancing and denying
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dancing vs denying
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dancing is /ˈdɑːnsɪŋ/ while denying is /dɪˈnaɪ.ɪŋ/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dancing is recorded at frequency rank #2,986, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɑːnsɪŋ/. denying is at rank #7,673, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈnaɪ.ɪŋ/.
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 10659, this pair ranks #491,199 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dancing vs denying
Shared letters: dgin. Private to "dancing": ac. Private to "denying": ey.
"dancing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "denying" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dancing" and "denying" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dancing" or "denying"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dancing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "denying" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #491,199 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dancing" and "denying" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deeming vs denying". 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 #491,199 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.