Which to use
“shaking” and “staring” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,295
- “shaking” frequency rank
- #5,734
- “staring” frequency rank
- 12029
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shaking | staring |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of shake | present participle and gerund of stare |
Where the eye mixes shaking and staring
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between shaking and staring
A purely visual mix-up. shaking (/ˈʃeɪkɪŋ/) and staring (/ˈstɛəɹɪŋ/) 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 12029, 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/. staring is at rank #5,734, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈstɛəɹɪŋ/.
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 12029, this pair ranks #483,826 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of shaking vs staring
Shared letters: agins. Private to "shaking": hk. Private to "staring": rt.
"shaking" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "staring" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shaking" for "staring" ever safe?
Frequency check: "shaking" vs "staring" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "shaking" and "staring" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shaking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "staring" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #483,826 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shaking" and "staring" 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 #483,826 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.