Which to use
“sharing” is a noun and “staying” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,230
- “sharing” frequency rank
- #2,764
- “staying” frequency rank
- 4994
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sharing | staying |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Something shared; a point in common. | present participle and gerund of stay |
Where the eye mixes sharing and staying
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sharing and staying
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sharing is /ˈʃɛə.ɹɪŋ/ while staying is /ˈsteɪ.ɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4994, 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/. staying is at rank #2,764, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsteɪ.ɪŋ/.
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 4994, this pair ranks #516,961 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sharing vs staying
Shared letters: agins. Private to "sharing": hr. Private to "staying": ty.
"sharing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "staying" · 7 letters · shape CCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sharing" and "staying" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "sharing" or "staying" show up more?
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 "staying" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #516,961 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sharing" and "staying" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sharing vs shorting". 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 #516,961 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.