Which to use
“exceeding” and “excepting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,767
- “exceeding” frequency rank
- #36,546
- “excepting” frequency rank
- 49313
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exceeding | excepting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of exceed | present participle and gerund of except |
Where the eye mixes exceeding and excepting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: exceeding vs excepting
A purely visual mix-up. exceeding (/ɪkˈsiːdɪŋ/) and excepting (/ɪkˈsɛptɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exceeding is recorded at frequency rank #12,767, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈsiːdɪŋ/. excepting is at rank #36,546, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈsɛptɪŋ/.
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 49313, this pair ranks #184,834 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of exceeding vs excepting
Shared letters: ceginx. Private to "exceeding": d. Private to "excepting": pt.
"exceeding" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVCC · "excepting" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "exceeding" and "excepting" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "exceeding" or "excepting"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "exceeding" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "excepting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #184,834 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exceeding" and "excepting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "excepting vs exceptions". 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 #184,834 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.