meaningvsmeetingWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“meaning” and “meeting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,429
“meaning” frequency rank
#736
“meeting” frequency rank
2165
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meaning meeting
Definition The denotation, referent, or idea connected with a word, expression, or symbol. The act of persons or things that meet.

Where the eye mixes meaning and meeting

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
meaning
7 ch
meeting

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. meaning (/ˈmiː.nɪŋ/) and meeting (/ˈmiːtɪŋ/) 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 2165, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meaning is recorded at frequency rank #1,429, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmiː.nɪŋ/. meeting is at rank #736, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmiːtɪŋ/.

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 2165, this pair ranks #525,702 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of meaning vs meeting

Shared letters: egimn. Private to "meaning": a. Private to "meeting": t.

"meaning" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "meeting" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meaningemaning · maening · meainng · meanign · meaningg · meaninng · meannig · meanning
  • meetingemeting · meeitng · meetign · meetingg · meetinng · meetnig · meetting · meteing

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meaning" and "meeting" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmiː.nɪŋ/ versus /ˈmiːtɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "meaning" or "meeting"?
"meeting" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #736 in our English list, against #1,429 for "meaning". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "meaning" and "meeting". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "meaning" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "meeting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #525,702 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "meaning" and "meeting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meaning vs melanin". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list