Which to use
“picking” is a verb and “pitting” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,383
- “picking” frequency rank
- #29,038
- “pitting” frequency rank
- 32421
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | picking | pitting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of pick | The formation of pits on a surface because of corrosion. |
Letter map: picking vs pitting
Shared letters muted; letters that set picking and pitting apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Part-of-speech tell for picking / pitting
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: picking is averb and pittinganoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
picking is recorded at frequency rank #3,383, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpɪkɪŋ/. pitting is at rank #29,038, 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 32421, this pair ranks #337,919 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of picking vs pitting
Shared letters: ginp. Private to "picking": ck. Private to "pitting": t.
"picking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "pitting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "picking" and "pitting" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "picking" vs "pitting" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "picking" and "pitting".
- Full dictionary entry for "picking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pitting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #337,919 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "picking" and "pitting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pinging vs pitting". 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 #337,919 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.