Which to use
“locking” and “looting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,231
- “locking” frequency rank
- #15,856
- “looting” frequency rank
- 26087
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | locking | looting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | gerund of lock: the act by which something is locked. | The act of stealing during a crisis such as a war, riot or natural disaster, when law enforcement is ineffective or absent. |
Letter map: locking vs looting
Shared letters muted; letters that set locking and looting apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Corpus notes: locking and looting
locking 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
locking is recorded at frequency rank #10,231, classified as anoun. 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 26087, this pair ranks #389,311 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of locking vs looting
Shared letters: gilno. Private to "locking": ck. Private to "looting": t.
"locking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "looting" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "locking" for "looting" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "locking" or "looting" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "locking" and "looting".
- Full dictionary entry for "locking" 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 #389,311 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "locking" and "looting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "looting 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 #389,311 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.