loathingvslootingWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#23,589
“loathing” frequency rank
#15,856
“looting” frequency rank
39445
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature loathing looting
Definition Sense of revulsion, distaste, detestation, extreme hatred or dislike. The act of stealing during a crisis such as a war, riot or natural disaster, when law enforcement is ineffective or absent.

Letter map: loathing vs looting

Shared letters muted; letters that set loathing and looting apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

8 ch
loathing
7 ch
looting

Pair insight - loathing / looting

loathing and looting are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39445, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

loathing is recorded at frequency rank #23,589, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈləʊðɪŋ/. looting is at rank #15,856, 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 39445, this pair ranks #276,629 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of loathing vs looting

Shared letters: gilnot. Private to "loathing": ah. Private to "looting": -.

"loathing" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC  ·  "looting" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • loathinglaothing · lloathing · loahting · loathhing · loathign · loathingg · loathinng · loathnig
  • lootingllooting · looitng · lootign · lootingg · lootinng · lootnig · lootting · loting

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "loathing" and "looting" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "loathing" vs "looting" - which ranks higher?
"looting" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,856 in our English list, against #23,589 for "loathing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "loathing" vs "looting" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "loathing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "looting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #276,629 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "loathing" and "looting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "latching vs loathing". 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 #276,629 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list