Which to use
“raining” is a verb and “retaining” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,917
- “raining” frequency rank
- #9,951
- “retaining” frequency rank
- 20868
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | raining | retaining |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of rain | Of or pertaining to something that retains something else, as with a retaining wall. |
Where the eye mixes raining and retaining
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between raining and retaining
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: raining is /ˈɹeɪnɪŋ/ while retaining is /ɹɪˈteɪnɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
raining is recorded at frequency rank #10,917, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɹeɪnɪŋ/. retaining is at rank #9,951, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɹɪˈteɪnɪŋ/.
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 20868, this pair ranks #428,070 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of raining vs retaining
Shared letters: aginr. Private to "raining": -. Private to "retaining": et.
"raining" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "retaining" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "raining" for "retaining" ever safe?
Which is more common, "raining" or "retaining"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "raining" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retaining" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,070 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "raining" and "retaining" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "retaining vs retaking". 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 #428,070 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.