raisingvsratingWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,448
“raising” frequency rank
#3,329
“rating” frequency rank
6777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raising rating
Definition present participle and gerund of raise present participle and gerund of rate

Where the eye mixes raising and rating

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
raising
6 ch
rating

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. raising (/ˈɹeɪzɪŋ/) and rating (/ˈɹeɪtɪŋ/) 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 6777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raising is recorded at frequency rank #3,448, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɹeɪzɪŋ/. rating is at rank #3,329, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɹeɪtɪŋ/.

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 6777, this pair ranks #510,018 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of raising vs rating

Shared letters: aginr. Private to "raising": s. Private to "rating": t.

"raising" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "rating" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • raisingraiisng · raisign · raisingg · raisinng · raisnig · raissing · rasiing · riasing
  • ratingarting · raitng · ratign · ratingg · ratinng · ratnig · ratting · rrating

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "raising" and "rating" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɹeɪzɪŋ/ versus /ˈɹeɪtɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "raising" or "rating"?
"rating" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,329 in our English list, against #3,448 for "raising". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list