Which to use
“isolating” is an adjective and “isolation” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,552
- “isolating” frequency rank
- #6,926
- “isolation” frequency rank
- 28478
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | isolating | isolation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having low morpheme per word ratio and no inflectional morphemes. | The state of being isolated, detached, or separated; the state of being away from other people. |
Letter map: isolating vs isolation
Shared letters muted; letters that set isolating and isolation apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.
Part-of-speech tell for isolating / isolation
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: isolating is anadjective and isolationanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
isolating is recorded at frequency rank #21,552, classified as anadj. isolation is at rank #6,926, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˌaɪsəˈleɪʃən/.
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 28478, this pair ranks #370,767 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of isolating vs isolation
Shared letters: ailnost. Private to "isolating": g. Private to "isolation": -.
"isolating" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVCC · "isolation" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "isolating" and "isolation" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "isolating" or "isolation" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "isolating" vs "isolation" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "isolating" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "isolation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #370,767 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "isolating" and "isolation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "insulation vs isolation". 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 #370,767 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.