Which to use
“reeling” is a verb and “retelling” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,898
- “reeling” frequency rank
- #30,940
- “retelling” frequency rank
- 56838
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reeling | retelling |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of reel | A new, changed, or adapted version of a story. |
Letter map: reeling vs retelling
Shared letters muted; letters that set reeling and retelling apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. reeling runs 7 letters (CVVCVCC) against retelling's 9 (CVCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for reeling / retelling
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: reeling is averb and retellinganoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reeling is recorded at frequency rank #25,898, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɹiːlɪŋ/. retelling is at rank #30,940, 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 56838, this pair ranks #123,383 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of reeling vs retelling
Shared letters: egilnr. Private to "reeling": -. Private to "retelling": t.
"reeling" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "retelling" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "reeling" for "retelling" ever safe?
Frequency check: "reeling" vs "retelling" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "reeling" and "retelling".
- Full dictionary entry for "reeling" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retelling" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #123,383 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reeling" and "retelling" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "refuelling vs retelling". 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 #123,383 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.