# pining vs prying

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### pining
*verb · IPA /ˈpaɪnɪŋ/ · frequency rank #39,480*
present participle and gerund of pine

### prying
*verb · IPA /ˈpɹaɪ.ɪŋ/ · frequency rank #34,239*
present participle and gerund of pry

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pining-vs-prying