Which to use
“locking” is a noun and “looking” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,231
- “locking” frequency rank
- #242
- “looking” frequency rank
- 10473
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | locking | looking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | gerund of lock: the act by which something is locked. | present participle and gerund of look |
Letter map: locking vs looking
Shared letters muted; letters that set locking and looking apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Role in the sentence - locking and looking
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: locking is anoun and lookingaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - c in “locking” becomes o in “looking”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
locking is recorded at frequency rank #10,231, classified as anoun. 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 10473, this pair ranks #492,153 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of locking vs looking
Shared letters: giklno. Private to "locking": c. Private to "looking": -.
"locking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "looking" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "locking" for "looking" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "locking" or "looking" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "locking" and "looking".
- Full dictionary entry for "locking" 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 #492,153 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "locking" and "looking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "locking 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 #492,153 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.