Which to use
“discriminating” is an adjective and “discrimination” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,141
- “discriminating” frequency rank
- #4,225
- “discrimination” frequency rank
- 28366
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | discriminating | discrimination |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Able to perceive fine distinctions between similar things; perceptive | Discernment, the act of discriminating, discerning, distinguishing, noting or perceiving differences between things, with the intent to understand rightly and make correct decisions. |
Where the eye mixes discriminating and discrimination
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 13 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between discriminating and discrimination
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: discriminating is /dɪsˈkɹɪmɪneɪtɪŋ(ɡ)/ while discrimination is /dɪskɹɪmɪˈneɪʃən/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28366, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
discriminating is recorded at frequency rank #24,141, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɪsˈkɹɪmɪneɪtɪŋ(ɡ)/. discrimination is at rank #4,225, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɪskɹɪmɪˈneɪʃən/.
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 28366, this pair ranks #371,633 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of discriminating vs discrimination
Shared letters: acdimnrst. Private to "discriminating": g. Private to "discrimination": o.
"discriminating" · 14 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCVCVCC · "discrimination" · 14 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- discriminating ← ddiscriminating · dicsriminating · disccriminating · discirminating · discriimnating · discrimianting · discriminaitng · discriminatign
- discrimination ← ddiscrimination · dicsrimination · disccrimination · discirmination · discriimnation · discrimiantion · discriminaiton · discriminasion
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "discriminating" for "discrimination" ever safe?
Which is more common, "discriminating" or "discrimination"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "discriminating" and "discrimination" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "discriminating" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "discrimination" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #371,633 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #371,633 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.