pingingvspinningWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#45,586
“pinging” frequency rank
#24,544
“pinning” frequency rank
70130
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pinging pinning
Definition The sound of a ping. present participle and gerund of pin

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pinging and pinning apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
pinging
7 ch
pinning

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pinging is anoun and pinningaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - g in “pinging” becomes n in “pinning”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pinging is recorded at frequency rank #45,586, classified as anoun. pinning is at rank #24,544, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpɪnɪŋ/.

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 70130, this pair ranks #51,791 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pinging vs pinning

Shared letters: ginp. Private to "pinging": -. Private to "pinning": -.

"pinging" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "pinning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pingingipnging · pigning · pingging · pingign · pingingg · pinginng · pingnig · pinigng
  • pinningipnning · pininng · pinnign · pinningg · pinninng · pinnnig · pnining · ppinning

Frequency comparison

pinging#45,586
pinning#24,544

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pinging" and "pinning" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pinging" is a noun and "pinning" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pinging" or "pinning"?
"pinning" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,544 in our English list, against #45,586 for "pinging". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pinging vs pinning

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “pinging”; for a verb, it's “pinning”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pinging” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list