landingvsleaningWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“landing” and “leaning” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,634
“landing” frequency rank
#8,449
“leaning” frequency rank
12083
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature landing leaning
Definition An arrival at a surface, as of an airplane or any descending object. A tendency or propensity.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set landing and leaning apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
landing
7 ch
leaning

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. landing (/ˈlændɪŋ/) and leaning (/ˈliːnɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12083, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

landing is recorded at frequency rank #3,634, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlændɪŋ/. leaning is at rank #8,449, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈliːnɪŋ/.

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 12083, this pair ranks #483,525 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of landing vs leaning

Shared letters: agiln. Private to "landing": d. Private to "leaning": e.

"landing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "leaning" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • landingalnding · ladning · landding · landign · landingg · landinng · landnig · lanidng
  • leaningelaning · laening · leainng · leanign · leaningg · leaninng · leannig · leanning

Frequency comparison

landing#3,634
leaning#8,449

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "landing" and "leaning" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlændɪŋ/ versus /ˈliːnɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "landing" or "leaning"?
"landing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,634 in our English list, against #8,449 for "leaning". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering landing vs leaning

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “landing” 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