Which to use
“petting” is a verb and “porting” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,244
- “petting” frequency rank
- #44,411
- “porting” frequency rank
- 71655
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | petting | porting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of pet | An opening through or into which fluid or other material can flow. |
Letter map: petting vs porting
Shared letters muted; letters that set petting and porting apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Grammar separator: petting vs porting
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: petting is averb and portinganoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
petting is recorded at frequency rank #27,244, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpɛtɪŋ/. porting is at rank #44,411, 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 71655, this pair ranks #45,929 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of petting vs porting
Shared letters: ginpt. Private to "petting": e. Private to "porting": or.
"petting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "porting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "petting" and "porting" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "petting" vs "porting" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "petting" and "porting". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "petting" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "porting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,929 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "petting" and "porting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "porting vs punting". 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 #45,929 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.