Which to use
“ongoing” and “outgoing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,177
- “ongoing” frequency rank
- #13,207
- “outgoing” frequency rank
- 17384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ongoing | outgoing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Continuing, permanent, lasting. | Extroverted: talkative, friendly, and social, especially with respect to meeting new people easily and comfortably; outgiving. |
Letter map: ongoing vs outgoing
Shared letters muted; letters that set ongoing and outgoing apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Corpus notes: ongoing and outgoing
ongoing and outgoing 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 17384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ongoing is recorded at frequency rank #4,177, classified as anadj. outgoing is at rank #13,207, tagged as anadj, pronounced /aʊtˈɡəʊɪŋ/.
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 17384, this pair ranks #451,764 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ongoing vs outgoing
Shared letters: gino. Private to "ongoing": -. Private to "outgoing": tu.
"ongoing" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC · "outgoing" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ongoing" and "outgoing" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ongoing" vs "outgoing" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "ongoing" and "outgoing". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "ongoing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "outgoing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #451,764 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ongoing" and "outgoing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "outgoing vs outlying". 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 #451,764 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.