# locking vs looting

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### locking
*noun · frequency rank #10,231*
gerund of lock: the act by which something is locked.

### looting
*noun · frequency rank #15,856*
The act of stealing during a crisis such as a war, riot or natural disaster, when law enforcement is ineffective or absent.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/locking-vs-looting