gifting vs giving, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#30,063
“gifting” frequency rank: #734
“giving” frequency rank: 30797
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	gifting	giving
Definition	present participle and gerund of gift	present participle and gerund of give

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gifting and giving apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

gifting

6 ch

giving

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gifting (/ˈɡɪftɪŋ/) and giving (/ˈɡɪvɪŋ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30797, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gifting is recorded at frequency rank #30,063, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɡɪftɪŋ/. giving is at rank #734, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɡɪvɪŋ/.

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 30797, this pair ranks #351,499 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gifting vs giving

Shared letters: gin. Private to "gifting": ft. Private to "giving": v.

"gifting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "giving" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

gifting ← gfiting · ggifting · giffting · gifitng · giftign · giftingg · giftinng · giftnig
giving ← ggiving · giivng · givign · givingg · givinng · givnig · givving · gviing

Frequency comparison

gifting#30,063

giving#734

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gifting" and "giving" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈɡɪftɪŋ/ versus /ˈɡɪvɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "gifting" or "giving"?

"giving" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #734 in our English list, against #30,063 for "gifting". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering gifting vs giving

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gifting” entry
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