figurinevsfiguringWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#34,889
“figurine” frequency rank
#11,380
“figuring” frequency rank
46269
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature figurine figuring
Definition A small carved or molded figure; a statuette. Calculation.

Where the eye mixes figurine and figuring

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
figurine
8 ch
figuring

Look-alike desk: figurine vs figuring

A purely visual mix-up. figurine (/fɪɡ(j)əˈɹin/) and figuring (/ˈfɪɡ.ə.ɹɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “figurine” becomes g in “figuring”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

figurine is recorded at frequency rank #34,889, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɪɡ(j)əˈɹin/. figuring is at rank #11,380, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪɡ.ə.ɹɪŋ/.

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 46269, this pair ranks #213,377 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of figurine vs figuring

Shared letters: fginru. Private to "figurine": e. Private to "figuring": -.

"figurine" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "figuring" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • figurineffigurine · fgiurine · figgurine · figruine · figuirne · figurien · figurinne · figurnie
  • figuringffiguring · fgiuring · figguring · figruing · figuirng · figurign · figuringg · figurinng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "figurine" for "figuring" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/fɪɡ(j)əˈɹin/ versus /ˈfɪɡ.ə.ɹɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "figurine" vs "figuring" - which ranks higher?
"figuring" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,380 in our English list, against #34,889 for "figurine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "figurine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "figuring" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #213,377 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "figurine" and "figuring" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figuring vs fingering". 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 #213,377 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