picketingvspickingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: picketing is a noun, picking is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“picketing” is a noun and “picking” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,415
“picketing” frequency rank
#3,383
“picking” frequency rank
51798
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature picketing picking
Definition The act of one who pickets (in any sense). present participle and gerund of pick

Letter map: picketing vs picking

Shared letters muted; letters that set picketing and picking apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.

9 ch
picketing
7 ch
picking

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: picketing is anoun and pickingaverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51798, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

picketing is recorded at frequency rank #48,415, classified as anoun. picking is at rank #3,383, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpɪkɪŋ/.

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 51798, this pair ranks #162,392 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of picketing vs picking

Shared letters: cgiknp. Private to "picketing": et. Private to "picking": -.

"picketing" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC  ·  "picking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picketingipcketing · pciketing · piccketing · picekting · pickeitng · picketign · picketingg · picketinng
  • pickingipcking · pciking · piccking · picikng · pickign · pickingg · pickinng · pickking

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "picketing" and "picking" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "picketing" is a noun and "picking" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "picketing" or "picking"?
"picking" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,383 in our English list, against #48,415 for "picketing". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list