Which to use
“showing” and “slowing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,409
- “showing” frequency rank
- #11,122
- “slowing” frequency rank
- 12531
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | showing | slowing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of show | present participle and gerund of slow |
Where the eye mixes showing and slowing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between showing and slowing
A purely visual mix-up. showing (/ˈʃəʊɪŋ/) and slowing (/ˈslaː.ɪn/) 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 a single letter - h in “showing” becomes l in “slowing”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
showing is recorded at frequency rank #1,409, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈʃəʊɪŋ/. slowing is at rank #11,122, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈslaː.ɪn/.
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 12531, this pair ranks #481,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of showing vs slowing
Shared letters: ginosw. Private to "showing": h. Private to "slowing": l.
"showing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "slowing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "showing" and "slowing" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "showing" vs "slowing" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "showing" and "slowing" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "showing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "slowing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #481,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "showing" and "slowing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "slowing vs stoning". 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 #481,011 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.