Which to use
“sharing” and “starling” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,230
- “sharing” frequency rank
- #28,031
- “starling” frequency rank
- 30261
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sharing | starling |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Something shared; a point in common. | A family, Sturnidae, of passerine birds. |
Where the eye mixes sharing and starling
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sharing and starling
A purely visual mix-up. sharing (/ˈʃɛə.ɹɪŋ/) and starling (/ˈstɑːlɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sharing is recorded at frequency rank #2,230, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈʃɛə.ɹɪŋ/. starling is at rank #28,031, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈstɑːlɪŋ/.
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 30261, this pair ranks #356,080 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sharing vs starling
Shared letters: aginrs. Private to "sharing": h. Private to "starling": lt.
"sharing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "starling" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sharing" for "starling" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sharing" vs "starling" - which ranks higher?
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 "sharing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "starling" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,080 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sharing" and "starling" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "snarling vs starling". 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 #356,080 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.