gunningvsgustingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: gunning is a noun, gusting is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gunning” is a noun and “gusting” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,103
“gunning” frequency rank
#49,372
“gusting” frequency rank
75475
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gunning gusting
Definition The act of firing a gun. present participle and gerund of gust

Letter map: gunning vs gusting

Shared letters muted; letters that set gunning and gusting apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
gunning
7 ch
gusting

Grammar separator: gunning vs gusting

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: gunning is anoun and gustingaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gunning is recorded at frequency rank #26,103, classified as anoun. gusting is at rank #49,372, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɡʌstɪŋ/.

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 75475, this pair ranks #32,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gunning vs gusting

Shared letters: ginu. Private to "gunning": -. Private to "gusting": st.

"gunning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "gusting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gunningggunning · gnuning · guning · guninng · gunnign · gunningg · gunninng · gunnnig
  • gustingggusting · gsuting · gusitng · gussting · gustign · gustingg · gustinng · gustnig

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gunning" and "gusting" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gunning" is a noun and "gusting" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gunning" or "gusting"?
"gunning" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,103 in our English list, against #49,372 for "gusting". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "gunning" vs "gusting" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gunning" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gusting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gunning" and "gusting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gating vs gusting". 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 #32,994 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