Which to use
“delaying” is a noun and “delving” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,342
- “delaying” frequency rank
- #37,881
- “delving” frequency rank
- 55223
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delaying | delving |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A delay. | present participle and gerund of delve |
Letter map: delaying vs delving
Shared letters muted; letters that set delaying and delving apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. delaying runs 8 letters (CVCVVVCC) against delving's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for delaying / delving
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: delaying is anoun and delvingaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delaying is recorded at frequency rank #17,342, classified as anoun. delving is at rank #37,881, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈdɛlvɪŋ/.
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 55223, this pair ranks #135,216 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of delaying vs delving
Shared letters: degiln. Private to "delaying": ay. Private to "delving": v.
"delaying" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC · "delving" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "delaying" and "delving" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "delaying" vs "delving" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "delaying" and "delving". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "delaying" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delving" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #135,216 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delaying" and "delving" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deeming vs delving". 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 #135,216 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.