Which to use
“eating” is a verb and “exacting” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,480
- “eating” frequency rank
- #30,787
- “exacting” frequency rank
- 32267
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eating | exacting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of eat | Making great demands; difficult to satisfy. |
Where the eye mixes eating and exacting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. eating runs 6 letters (VVCVCC) against exacting's 8 (VCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: eating vs exacting
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eating is /ˈiːtɪŋ/ while exacting is /ɪɡˈzæktɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eating is recorded at frequency rank #1,480, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈiːtɪŋ/. exacting is at rank #30,787, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪɡˈzæktɪŋ/.
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 32267, this pair ranks #339,288 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of eating vs exacting
Shared letters: aegint. Private to "eating": -. Private to "exacting": cx.
"eating" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCC · "exacting" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "eating" for "exacting" ever safe?
Frequency check: "eating" vs "exacting" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "eating" and "exacting" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "eating" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exacting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #339,288 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "eating" and "exacting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erecting vs exacting". 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 #339,288 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.