Which to use
“lacing” is a verb and “locking” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,579
- “lacing” frequency rank
- #10,231
- “locking” frequency rank
- 56810
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lacing | locking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of lace | gerund of lock: the act by which something is locked. |
Letter map: lacing vs locking
Shared letters muted; letters that set lacing and locking apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Grammar separator: lacing vs locking
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lacing is averb and lockinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56810, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lacing is recorded at frequency rank #46,579, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈleɪsɪŋ/. locking is at rank #10,231, tagged as anoun.
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 56810, this pair ranks #123,577 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of lacing vs locking
Shared letters: cgiln. Private to "lacing": a. Private to "locking": ko.
"lacing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "locking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lacing" for "locking" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lacing" vs "locking" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "lacing" vs "locking" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "lacing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "locking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #123,577 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lacing" and "locking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lacing vs loring". 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 #123,577 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.