rammingvsravingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ramming is a noun, raving is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ramming” is a noun and “raving” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,185
“ramming” frequency rank
#23,966
“raving” frequency rank
61151
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ramming raving
Definition A collision where something is rammed. present participle and gerund of rave

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
ramming
6 ch
raving

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ramming is anoun and ravingaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ramming is recorded at frequency rank #37,185, classified as anoun. raving is at rank #23,966, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɹeɪvɪŋ/.

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 61151, this pair ranks #95,899 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ramming vs raving

Shared letters: aginr. Private to "ramming": m. Private to "raving": v.

"ramming" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "raving" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rammingramimng · rammign · rammingg · ramminng · rammnig · rmaming · rramming
  • ravingarving · raivng · ravign · ravingg · ravinng · ravnig · ravving · rraving

Frequency comparison

ramming#37,185
raving#23,966

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ramming" and "raving" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ramming" is a noun and "raving" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ramming" or "raving"?
"raving" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,966 in our English list, against #37,185 for "ramming". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ramming vs raving

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ramming”; for a verb, it's “raving”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ramming” 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