Which to use
“docking” and “downing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,316
- “docking” frequency rank
- #16,219
- “downing” frequency rank
- 35535
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | docking | downing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of dock | present participle and gerund of down |
Letter map: docking vs downing
Shared letters muted; letters that set docking and downing apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Pair insight - docking / downing
docking and downing are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35535, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
docking is recorded at frequency rank #19,316, classified as averb. 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 35535, this pair ranks #311,115 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of docking vs downing
Shared letters: dgino. Private to "docking": ck. Private to "downing": w.
"docking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "downing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "docking" and "downing" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "docking" vs "downing" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "docking" and "downing". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "docking" 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 #311,115 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "docking" and "downing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "docking vs dozing". 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 #311,115 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.