Which to use
“longing” and “losing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,989
- “longing” frequency rank
- #1,487
- “losing” frequency rank
- 16476
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | longing | losing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of long | present participle and gerund of lose |
Where the eye mixes longing and losing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: longing vs losing
A purely visual mix-up. longing (/ˈlɒŋɪŋ/) and losing (/ˈluːzɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16476, 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/. losing is at rank #1,487, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈluːzɪŋ/.
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 16476, this pair ranks #457,502 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of longing vs losing
Shared letters: gilno. Private to "longing": -. Private to "losing": s.
"longing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "losing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "longing" for "losing" ever safe?
Frequency check: "longing" vs "losing" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
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 "losing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #457,502 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "longing" and "losing" 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 #457,502 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.