Which to use
“liking” and “looking” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,245
- “liking” frequency rank
- #242
- “looking” frequency rank
- 7487
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | liking | looking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of like | present participle and gerund of look |
Where the eye mixes liking and looking
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between liking and looking
A purely visual mix-up. liking (/ˈlaɪkɪŋ/) and looking (/ˈlʊkɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7487, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
liking is recorded at frequency rank #7,245, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈlaɪkɪŋ/. looking is at rank #242, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlʊkɪŋ/.
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 7487, this pair ranks #506,889 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of liking vs looking
Shared letters: gikln. Private to "liking": -. Private to "looking": o.
"liking" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "looking" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "liking" for "looking" ever safe?
Which is more common, "liking" or "looking"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "liking" and "looking" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "liking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "looking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #506,889 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "liking" and "looking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "liking 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 #506,889 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.