Which to use
“dodging” is a noun and “downing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,317
- “dodging” frequency rank
- #16,219
- “downing” frequency rank
- 35536
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dodging | downing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of dodging; a dodge. | present participle and gerund of down |
Letter map: dodging vs downing
Shared letters muted; letters that set dodging and downing apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - dodging and downing
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dodging is anoun and downingaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dodging is recorded at frequency rank #19,317, classified as anoun. 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 35536, this pair ranks #311,109 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dodging vs downing
Shared letters: dgino. Private to "dodging": -. Private to "downing": w.
"dodging" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "downing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dodging" for "downing" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "dodging" or "downing" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "dodging" vs "downing" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "dodging" 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 #311,109 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dodging" and "downing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dodging 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 #311,109 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.