ravingvsrevvingWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#23,966
“raving” frequency rank
#43,882
“revving” frequency rank
67848
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature raving revving
Definition present participle and gerund of rave The act by which an engine is revved.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
raving
7 ch
revving

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: raving is averb and revvinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

raving is recorded at frequency rank #23,966, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɹeɪvɪŋ/. revving is at rank #43,882, tagged as anoun.

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 67848, this pair ranks #61,499 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of raving vs revving

Shared letters: ginrv. Private to "raving": a. Private to "revving": e.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ravingarving · raivng · ravign · ravingg · ravinng · ravnig · ravving · rraving
  • revvingervving · reving · revivng · revvign · revvingg · revvinng · revvnig · rrevving

Frequency comparison

raving#23,966
revving#43,882

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "raving" and "revving" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "raving" is a verb and "revving" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "raving" or "revving"?
"raving" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,966 in our English list, against #43,882 for "revving". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering raving vs revving

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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