Which to use
“pulling” is a verb and “puzzling” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,971
- “pulling” frequency rank
- #24,558
- “puzzling” frequency rank
- 28529
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pulling | puzzling |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of pull | Difficult to understand or explain; enigmatic or confusing; perplexing. |
Letter map: pulling vs puzzling
Shared letters muted; letters that set pulling and puzzling apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Part-of-speech tell for pulling / puzzling
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pulling is averb and puzzlinganadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pulling is recorded at frequency rank #3,971, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpʊlɪŋ/. puzzling is at rank #24,558, tagged as anadj.
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 28529, this pair ranks #370,357 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pulling vs puzzling
Shared letters: gilnpu. Private to "pulling": -. Private to "puzzling": z.
"pulling" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "puzzling" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pulling" and "puzzling" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pulling" vs "puzzling" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "pulling" and "puzzling".
- Full dictionary entry for "pulling" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puzzling" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #370,357 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pulling" and "puzzling" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pulling vs punting". 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 #370,357 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.