Which to use
“poking” and “posting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,997
- “poking” frequency rank
- #3,714
- “posting” frequency rank
- 20711
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poking | posting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of poke | present participle and gerund of post |
Where the eye mixes poking and posting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between poking and posting
A purely visual mix-up. poking (/ˈpəʊkɪŋ/) and posting (/ˈpəʊstɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poking is recorded at frequency rank #16,997, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpəʊkɪŋ/. posting is at rank #3,714, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpəʊstɪŋ/.
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 20711, this pair ranks #429,221 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poking vs posting
Shared letters: ginop. Private to "poking": k. Private to "posting": st.
"poking" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "posting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poking" for "posting" ever safe?
Frequency check: "poking" vs "posting" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "poking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "posting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,221 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poking" and "posting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poking vs porting". 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 #429,221 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.