Which to use
“excepting” and “expecting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,546
- “excepting” frequency rank
- #3,491
- “expecting” frequency rank
- 40037
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | excepting | expecting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of except | present participle and gerund of expect |
Where the eye mixes excepting and expecting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: excepting vs expecting
A purely visual mix-up. excepting (/ɪkˈsɛptɪŋ/) and expecting (/ɪkˈspɛktɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40037, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
excepting is recorded at frequency rank #36,546, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈsɛptɪŋ/. expecting is at rank #3,491, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈspɛktɪŋ/.
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 40037, this pair ranks #271,238 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of excepting vs expecting
Shared letters: ceginptx. Private to "excepting": -. Private to "expecting": -.
"excepting" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC · "expecting" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "excepting" and "expecting" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "excepting" or "expecting"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "excepting" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "expecting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #271,238 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "excepting" and "expecting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exceeding vs excepting". 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 #271,238 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.