Which to use
“outing” and “outline” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,016
- “outing” frequency rank
- #8,071
- “outline” frequency rank
- 23087
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | outing | outline |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A pleasure trip or excursion. | A line marking the boundary of an object figure. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set outing and outline apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
outing and outline form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23087, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
outing is recorded at frequency rank #15,016, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʊtɪŋ/. outline is at rank #8,071, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʊtlaɪn/.
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 23087, this pair ranks #411,831 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "outing" and "outline" be used interchangeably?
Remembering outing vs outline
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “outing” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable