mendingvsminingConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#32,078
“mending” frequency rank
#2,688
“mining” frequency rank
34766
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mending mining
Definition The act by which something is mended or repaired. The activity of removing valuable resources (often minerals) from the earth.

Letter map: mending vs mining

Shared letters muted; letters that set mending and mining apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
mending
6 ch
mining

Corpus notes: mending and mining

mending and mining 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mending is recorded at frequency rank #32,078, classified as anoun. mining is at rank #2,688, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaɪnɪŋ/.

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 34766, this pair ranks #317,899 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mending vs mining

Shared letters: gimn. Private to "mending": de. Private to "mining": -.

"mending" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "mining" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mendingemnding · medning · mendding · mendign · mendingg · mendinng · mendnig · menidng
  • miningimning · miinng · minign · miningg · mininng · minnig · minning · mmining

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mending" for "mining" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "mending" or "mining"?
"mining" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,688 in our English list, against #32,078 for "mending". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "mending" vs "mining" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mending" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mining" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #317,899 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mending" and "mining" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mending vs minding". 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 #317,899 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list