Which to use
“plying” is a verb and “puking” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,811
- “plying” frequency rank
- #35,032
- “puking” frequency rank
- 76843
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plying | puking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of ply | The act of one who pukes or vomits. |
Letter map: plying vs puking
Shared letters muted; letters that set plying and puking apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. plying (CCVVCC) and puking (CVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: plying vs puking
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: plying is averb and pukinganoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plying is recorded at frequency rank #41,811, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈplaɪ.ɪŋ/. puking is at rank #35,032, 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 76843, this pair ranks #28,982 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of plying vs puking
Shared letters: ginp. Private to "plying": ly. Private to "puking": ku.
"plying" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "puking" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "plying" for "puking" ever safe?
Frequency check: "plying" vs "puking" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "plying" and "puking". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "plying" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #28,982 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plying" and "puking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pining vs plying". 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 #28,982 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.