Which to use
“pinning” is a verb and “pitting” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,544
- “pinning” frequency rank
- #29,038
- “pitting” frequency rank
- 53582
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pinning | pitting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of pin | The formation of pits on a surface because of corrosion. |
Letter map: pinning vs pitting
Shared letters muted; letters that set pinning and pitting apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. pinning and pitting follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: pinning vs pitting
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pinning 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 53582, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pinning is recorded at frequency rank #24,544, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpɪnɪŋ/. 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 53582, this pair ranks #147,827 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pinning vs pitting
Shared letters: ginp. Private to "pinning": -. Private to "pitting": t.
"pinning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "pitting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pinning" and "pitting" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "pinning" or "pitting" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "pinning" and "pitting". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "pinning" 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 #147,827 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pinning" 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 #147,827 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.