Which to use
“padding” and “passing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,054
- “padding” frequency rank
- #2,362
- “passing” frequency rank
- 25416
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | padding | passing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of pad | present participle and gerund of pass |
Where the eye mixes padding and passing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between padding and passing
A purely visual mix-up. padding (/ˈpædɪŋ/) and passing (/ˈpɑːsɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
padding is recorded at frequency rank #23,054, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpædɪŋ/. passing is at rank #2,362, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpɑːsɪŋ/.
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 25416, this pair ranks #394,445 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of padding vs passing
Shared letters: aginp. Private to "padding": d. Private to "passing": s.
"padding" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "passing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "padding" for "passing" ever safe?
Frequency check: "padding" vs "passing" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "padding" and "passing" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "padding" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "passing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,445 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "padding" and "passing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "padding vs plodding". 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 #394,445 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.