shakingvsstagingWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,295
“shaking” frequency rank
#12,146
“staging” frequency rank
18441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shaking staging
Definition present participle and gerund of shake present participle and gerund of stage

Letter map: shaking vs staging

Shared letters muted; letters that set shaking and staging apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
shaking
7 ch
staging

Pair insight - shaking / staging

shaking and staging are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

shaking is recorded at frequency rank #6,295, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈʃeɪkɪŋ/. staging is at rank #12,146, tagged as averb.

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 18441, this pair ranks #444,888 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of shaking vs staging

Shared letters: agins. Private to "shaking": hk. Private to "staging": t.

"shaking" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC  ·  "staging" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shakinghsaking · sahking · shaikng · shakign · shakingg · shakinng · shakking · shaknig
  • stagingsatging · sstaging · stagging · stagign · stagingg · staginng · stagnig · staigng

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "shaking" and "staging" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "shaking" vs "staging" - which ranks higher?
"shaking" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,295 in our English list, against #12,146 for "staging". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "shaking" and "staging".

  • Full dictionary entry for "shaking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "staging" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #444,888 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shaking" and "staging" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shaking vs sulking". 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 #444,888 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