Which to use
“licking” is a noun and “liking” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,784
- “licking” frequency rank
- #7,245
- “liking” frequency rank
- 22029
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | licking | liking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act by which something is licked. | present participle and gerund of like |
Where the eye mixes licking and liking
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. licking runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against liking's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between licking and liking
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: licking is /ˈlɪkɪŋ/ while liking is /ˈlaɪkɪŋ/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
licking is recorded at frequency rank #14,784, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈlɪkɪŋ/. liking is at rank #7,245, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlaɪkɪŋ/.
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 22029, this pair ranks #419,589 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of licking vs liking
Shared letters: gikln. Private to "licking": c. Private to "liking": -.
"licking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "liking" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "licking" for "liking" ever safe?
Which is more common, "licking" or "liking"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "licking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "liking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #419,589 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "licking" and "liking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lacing vs licking". 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 #419,589 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.