growing vs growling, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“growing” is a verb and “growling” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,223
“growing” frequency rank: #30,072
“growling” frequency rank: 31295
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	growing	growling
Definition	present participle and gerund of grow	Producing a growl.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set growing and growling apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

growing

8 ch

growling

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: growing is averb and growlinganadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31295, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

growing is recorded at frequency rank #1,223, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɡɹoʊɪŋ/. growling is at rank #30,072, tagged as anadj.

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 31295, this pair ranks #347,313 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of growing vs growling

Shared letters: ginorw. Private to "growing": -. Private to "growling": l.

"growing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "growling" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

growing ← ggrowing · gorwing · groiwng · growign · growingg · growinng · grownig · growwing
growling ← ggrowling · gorwling · grolwing · growilng · growlign · growlingg · growlinng · growlling

Frequency comparison

growing#1,223

growling#30,072

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "growing" and "growling" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "growing" is a verb and "growling" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "growing" or "growling"?

"growing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,223 in our English list, against #30,072 for "growling". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering growing vs growling

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “growing”; for an adjective, it's “growling”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “growing” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable