rakingvsreapingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: raking is a adjective, reaping is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“raking” is an adjective and “reaping” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,932
“raking” frequency rank
#30,560
“reaping” frequency rank
61492
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raking reaping
Definition Swiftly moving. present participle and gerund of reap

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set raking and reaping apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
raking
7 ch
reaping

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: raking is anadjective and reapingaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61492, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raking is recorded at frequency rank #30,932, classified as anadj. reaping is at rank #30,560, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɹiːpɪŋ/.

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 61492, this pair ranks #93,939 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of raking vs reaping

Shared letters: aginr. Private to "raking": k. Private to "reaping": ep.

"raking" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "reaping" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rakingarking · raikng · rakign · rakingg · rakinng · rakking · raknig · rkaing
  • reapingeraping · raeping · reaipng · reapign · reapingg · reapinng · reapnig · reapping

Frequency comparison

raking#30,932
reaping#30,560

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "raking" and "reaping" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "raking" is an adjective and "reaping" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "raking" or "reaping"?
"reaping" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,560 in our English list, against #30,932 for "raking". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering raking vs reaping

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “raking”; for a verb, it's “reaping”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “raking” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list