LansingvslongingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Lansing is a name, longing is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Lansing” is a name and “longing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,686
“Lansing” frequency rank
#14,989
“longing” frequency rank
35675
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Lansing longing
Definition The capital city of Michigan, United States, in Ingham County. present participle and gerund of long

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
Lansing
7 ch
longing

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Lansing is /ˈlænsɪŋ/ while longing is /ˈlɒŋɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Lansing is recorded at frequency rank #20,686, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈlænsɪŋ/. longing is at rank #14,989, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlɒŋɪŋ/.

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 35675, this pair ranks #309,931 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Lansing vs longing

Shared letters: giln. Private to "Lansing": as. Private to "longing": o.

"Lansing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "longing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Lansingalnsing · lanisng · lannsing · lansign · lansingg · lansinng · lansnig · lanssing
  • longingllonging · lnoging · logning · longging · longign · longingg · longinng · longnig

Frequency comparison

Lansing#20,686
longing#14,989

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Lansing" and "longing" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Lansing" is a name and "longing" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Lansing" or "longing"?
"longing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,989 in our English list, against #20,686 for "Lansing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Lansing vs longing

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Lansing”; for a verb, it's “longing”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Lansing” 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