# desiring vs despairing

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### desiring
*verb · IPA /dɪˈzaɪ(ə)ɹɪŋ/ · frequency rank #32,349*
present participle and gerund of desire

### despairing
*adjective · IPA /dɪˈspɛəɹ.ɪŋ/ · frequency rank #45,324*
Feeling, expressing, or caused by despair; hopeless.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/desiring-vs-despairing