Which to use
“locking” is a noun and “longing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,231
- “locking” frequency rank
- #14,989
- “longing” frequency rank
- 25220
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | locking | longing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | gerund of lock: the act by which something is locked. | present participle and gerund of long |
Letter map: locking vs longing
Shared letters muted; letters that set locking and longing apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - locking and longing
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: locking is anoun and longingaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25220, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
locking is recorded at frequency rank #10,231, classified as anoun. 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 25220, this pair ranks #395,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of locking vs longing
Shared letters: gilno. Private to "locking": ck. Private to "longing": -.
"locking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "longing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "locking" and "longing" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "locking" vs "longing" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "locking" vs "longing" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "locking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "longing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #395,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "locking" and "longing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "longing 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 #395,999 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.