Which to use
“peaking” and “planing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,861
- “peaking” frequency rank
- #39,030
- “planing” frequency rank
- 63891
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peaking | planing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of peak | present participle and gerund of plane |
Where the eye mixes peaking and planing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses peaking with planing
A purely visual mix-up. peaking (/ˈpiːkɪŋ/) and planing (/ˈpleɪnɪŋ/) 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 63891, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peaking is recorded at frequency rank #24,861, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpiːkɪŋ/. planing is at rank #39,030, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpleɪnɪŋ/.
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 63891, this pair ranks #80,551 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of peaking vs planing
Shared letters: aginp. Private to "peaking": ek. Private to "planing": l.
"peaking" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "planing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "peaking" for "planing" ever safe?
Frequency check: "peaking" vs "planing" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "peaking" and "planing" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "peaking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "planing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #80,551 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peaking" and "planing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "planing vs prancing". 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 #80,551 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.