Which to use
“petting” and “putting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,244
- “petting” frequency rank
- #1,465
- “putting” frequency rank
- 28709
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | petting | putting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of pet | present participle and gerund of put |
Where the eye mixes petting and putting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: petting vs putting
A purely visual mix-up. petting (/ˈpɛtɪŋ/) and putting (/ˈpʊtɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “petting” becomes u in “putting”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28709, 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/. putting is at rank #1,465, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpʊtɪŋ/.
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 28709, this pair ranks #368,945 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of petting vs putting
Shared letters: ginpt. Private to "petting": e. Private to "putting": u.
"petting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "putting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "petting" for "putting" ever safe?
Frequency check: "petting" vs "putting" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "petting" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "putting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #368,945 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "petting" and "putting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "petting vs porting". 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 #368,945 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.