Which to use
“Denning” is a name and “downing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,086
- “Denning” frequency rank
- #16,219
- “downing” frequency rank
- 58305
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Denning | downing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname. | present participle and gerund of down |
Letter map: Denning vs downing
Shared letters muted; letters that set Denning and downing apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. Denning and downing follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: Denning vs downing
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Denning is aname and downingaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Denning is recorded at frequency rank #42,086, classified as aname. downing is at rank #16,219, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈdaʊnɪŋ/.
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 58305, this pair ranks #113,447 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Denning vs downing
Shared letters: dgin. Private to "Denning": e. Private to "downing": ow.
"Denning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "downing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Denning" for "downing" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Denning" vs "downing" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "Denning" vs "downing" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "Denning" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "downing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #113,447 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Denning" and "downing" 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 #113,447 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.