Which to use
“robbing” is a noun and “rowing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,707
- “robbing” frequency rank
- #17,469
- “rowing” frequency rank
- 35176
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | robbing | rowing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | robbery | present participle and gerund of row (“propel with oars”) |
Letter map: robbing vs rowing
Shared letters muted; letters that set robbing and rowing apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - robbing and rowing
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: robbing is anoun and rowingaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
robbing is recorded at frequency rank #17,707, classified as anoun. rowing is at rank #17,469, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɹoʊɪŋ/.
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 35176, this pair ranks #314,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of robbing vs rowing
Shared letters: ginor. Private to "robbing": b. Private to "rowing": w.
"robbing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "rowing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "robbing" for "rowing" ever safe?
Which is more common, "robbing" or "rowing"?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "robbing" and "rowing".
- Full dictionary entry for "robbing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rowing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #314,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "robbing" and "rowing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rong vs rowing". 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 #314,260 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.