seatingvssensingWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“seating” and “sensing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,127
“seating” frequency rank
#12,322
“sensing” frequency rank
22449
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature seating sensing
Definition present participle and gerund of seat present participle and gerund of sense

Where the eye mixes seating and sensing

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
seating
7 ch
sensing

Look-alike desk: seating vs sensing

A purely visual mix-up. seating (/ˈsiːtɪŋ/) and sensing (/ˈsɛnsɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22449, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

seating is recorded at frequency rank #10,127, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsiːtɪŋ/. sensing is at rank #12,322, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsɛnsɪŋ/.

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 22449, this pair ranks #416,520 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of seating vs sensing

Shared letters: egins. Private to "seating": at. Private to "sensing": -.

"seating" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "sensing" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • seatingesating · saeting · seaitng · seatign · seatingg · seatinng · seatnig · seatting
  • sensingesnsing · senisng · sennsing · sensign · sensingg · sensinng · sensnig · senssing

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "seating" and "sensing" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsiːtɪŋ/ versus /ˈsɛnsɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "seating" or "sensing"?
"seating" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,127 in our English list, against #12,322 for "sensing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "seating" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sensing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #416,520 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "seating" and "sensing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seating vs suiting". 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 #416,520 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list