Which to use
“longing” and “looking” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,989
- “longing” frequency rank
- #242
- “looking” frequency rank
- 15231
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | longing | looking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of long | present participle and gerund of look |
Where the eye mixes longing and looking
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: longing vs looking
A purely visual mix-up. longing (/ˈlɒŋɪŋ/) and looking (/ˈlʊkɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
longing is recorded at frequency rank #14,989, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈlɒŋɪŋ/. 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 15231, this pair ranks #465,278 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of longing vs looking
Shared letters: gilno. Private to "longing": -. Private to "looking": k.
"longing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "looking" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "longing" for "looking" ever safe?
Which is more common, "longing" or "looking"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "longing" 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 #465,278 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "longing" and "looking" 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 #465,278 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.