policingvspricingWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“policing” and “pricing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,658
“policing” frequency rank
#6,725
“pricing” frequency rank
19383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature policing pricing
Definition present participle and gerund of police present participle and gerund of price

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
policing
7 ch
pricing

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

policing and pricing are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

policing is recorded at frequency rank #12,658, classified as averb. pricing is at rank #6,725, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpɹaɪsɪŋ/.

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 19383, this pair ranks #438,574 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of policing vs pricing

Shared letters: cginp. Private to "policing": lo. Private to "pricing": r.

"policing" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC  ·  "pricing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • policingoplicing · ploicing · poilcing · polciing · policcing · policign · policingg · policinng
  • pricingpircing · ppricing · prciing · priccing · pricign · pricingg · pricinng · pricnig

Frequency comparison

policing#12,658
pricing#6,725

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "policing" and "pricing" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "policing" or "pricing"?
"pricing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,725 in our English list, against #12,658 for "policing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering policing vs pricing

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “policing” 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