outgoingvsoutlyingTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,207
“outgoing” frequency rank
#26,540
“outlying” frequency rank
39747
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature outgoing outlying
Definition Extroverted: talkative, friendly, and social, especially with respect to meeting new people easily and comfortably; outgiving. Relatively remote from some central location.

Letter map: outgoing vs outlying

Shared letters muted; letters that set outgoing and outlying apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

8 ch
outgoing
8 ch
outlying

Corpus notes: outgoing and outlying

outgoing and outlying 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

outgoing is recorded at frequency rank #13,207, classified as anadj, pronounced /aʊtˈɡəʊɪŋ/. outlying is at rank #26,540, tagged as anadj.

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 39747, this pair ranks #273,900 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of outgoing vs outlying

Shared letters: ginotu. Private to "outgoing": -. Private to "outlying": ly.

"outgoing" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVVCC  ·  "outlying" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • outgoingotugoing · ougtoing · outggoing · outgiong · outgoign · outgoingg · outgoinng · outgonig
  • outlyingotulying · oultying · outliyng · outllying · outlyign · outlyingg · outlyinng · outlynig

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "outgoing" and "outlying" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "outgoing" vs "outlying" - which ranks higher?
"outgoing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,207 in our English list, against #26,540 for "outlying". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "outgoing" vs "outlying" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "outgoing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "outlying" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #273,900 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "outgoing" and "outlying" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "outing 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 #273,900 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