# padding vs paving

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### padding
*verb · IPA /ˈpædɪŋ/ · frequency rank #23,054*
present participle and gerund of pad

### paving
*verb · IPA /ˈpeɪvɪŋ/ · frequency rank #16,767*
present participle and gerund of pave

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/padding-vs-paving