Which to use
“locking” and “looping” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,231
- “locking” frequency rank
- #28,614
- “looping” frequency rank
- 38845
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | locking | looping |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | gerund of lock: the act by which something is locked. | The running together of ore into a mass, when the ore is only heated for calcination. |
Letter map: locking vs looping
Shared letters muted; letters that set locking and looping apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Corpus notes: locking and looping
locking and looping 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
locking is recorded at frequency rank #10,231, classified as anoun. looping is at rank #28,614, 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 38845, this pair ranks #282,179 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of locking vs looping
Shared letters: gilno. Private to "locking": ck. Private to "looping": p.
"locking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "looping" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "locking" and "looping" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "locking" or "looping"?
What to do next
Pair "locking" vs "looping" 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 "looping" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,179 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "locking" and "looping" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "looping 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 #282,179 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.