Which to use
“pacing” is a verb and “pausing” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,386
- “pacing” frequency rank
- #27,593
- “pausing” frequency rank
- 45979
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pacing | pausing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of pace | A pause. |
Letter map: pacing vs pausing
Shared letters muted; letters that set pacing and pausing apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - pacing and pausing
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pacing is averb and pausinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45979, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pacing is recorded at frequency rank #18,386, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpeɪsɪŋ/. pausing is at rank #27,593, tagged as anoun.
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 45979, this pair ranks #216,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pacing vs pausing
Shared letters: aginp. Private to "pacing": c. Private to "pausing": su.
"pacing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "pausing" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pacing" for "pausing" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pacing" or "pausing"?
What to do next
Pair "pacing" vs "pausing" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "pacing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pausing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #216,147 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pacing" and "pausing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pausing vs perusing". 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 #216,147 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.