Which to use
“receding” is an adjective and “receiving” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,193
- “receding” frequency rank
- #2,552
- “receiving” frequency rank
- 32745
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | receding | receiving |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Going or moving back or further away from a previous position; gradually diminishing. | present participle and gerund of receive |
Letter map: receding vs receiving
Shared letters muted; letters that set receding and receiving apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.
Grammar separator: receding vs receiving
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: receding is anadjective and receivingaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32745, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
receding is recorded at frequency rank #30,193, classified as anadj. receiving is at rank #2,552, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈsiːvɪŋ/.
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 32745, this pair ranks #335,265 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of receding vs receiving
Shared letters: ceginr. Private to "receding": d. Private to "receiving": v.
"receding" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC · "receiving" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "receding" and "receiving" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "receding" or "receiving" show up more?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "receding" and "receiving".
- Full dictionary entry for "receding" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "receiving" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #335,265 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "receding" and "receiving" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "receding vs rereading". 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 #335,265 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.