Which to use
“delving” and “diving” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,881
- “delving” frequency rank
- #6,895
- “diving” frequency rank
- 44776
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delving | diving |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of delve | present participle and gerund of dive |
Where the eye mixes delving and diving
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. delving runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against diving's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: delving vs diving
A purely visual mix-up. delving (/ˈdɛlvɪŋ/) and diving (/ˈdaɪ.vɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delving is recorded at frequency rank #37,881, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdɛlvɪŋ/. diving is at rank #6,895, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈdaɪ.vɪŋ/.
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 44776, this pair ranks #227,438 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of delving vs diving
Shared letters: dginv. Private to "delving": el. Private to "diving": -.
"delving" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "diving" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "delving" and "diving" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "delving" vs "diving" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "delving" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "diving" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #227,438 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delving" and "diving" 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 #227,438 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.