hatingvshuntingWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,051
“hating” frequency rank
#3,500
“hunting” frequency rank
12551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hating hunting
Definition present participle and gerund of hate The act of finding and killing a wild animal, either for sport or with the intention of using its parts to make food, clothes, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
hating
7 ch
hunting

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hating is /ˈheɪtɪŋ/ while hunting is /ˈhʌntɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hating is recorded at frequency rank #9,051, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈheɪtɪŋ/. hunting is at rank #3,500, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhʌntɪŋ/.

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 12551, this pair ranks #480,907 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of hating vs hunting

Shared letters: ghint. Private to "hating": a. Private to "hunting": u.

"hating" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "hunting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hatingahting · haitng · hatign · hatingg · hatinng · hatnig · hatting · hhating
  • huntinghhunting · hnuting · hunitng · hunnting · huntign · huntingg · huntinng · huntnig

Frequency comparison

hating#9,051
hunting#3,500

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hating" and "hunting" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hating" is a verb and "hunting" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "hating" or "hunting"?
"hunting" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,500 in our English list, against #9,051 for "hating". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hating vs hunting

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list