exclaimingvsexplainingConfusable pair

Which to use

“exclaiming” and “explaining” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,125
“exclaiming” frequency rank
#4,856
“explaining” frequency rank
46981
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exclaiming explaining
Definition exclamation explanation

Letter map: exclaiming vs explaining

Shared letters muted; letters that set exclaiming and explaining apart highlighted. Shared run: 8. exclaiming and explaining follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
exclaiming
10 ch
explaining

Spelling & dictionary notes on exclaiming vs explaining

exclaiming and explaining 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 46981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exclaiming is recorded at frequency rank #42,125, classified as anoun. explaining is at rank #4,856, tagged as anoun.

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 46981, this pair ranks #206,694 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exclaiming vs explaining

Shared letters: aegilnx. Private to "exclaiming": cm. Private to "explaining": p.

"exclaiming" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVVCVCC  ·  "explaining" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exclaiming ← ecxlaiming · excaliming · excclaiming · exclaiimng · exclaimign · exclaimingg · exclaiminng · exclaimming
  • explaining ← epxlaining · exlpaining · expalining · explaiinng · explainign · explainingg · explaininng · explainnig

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "exclaiming" and "explaining" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "exclaiming" vs "explaining" - which ranks higher?
"explaining" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,856 in our English list, against #42,125 for "exclaiming". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "exclaiming" and "explaining".

  • Full dictionary entry for "exclaiming" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "explaining" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #206,694 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • 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 #206,694 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list