Which to use
“sinking” is a noun and “smoking” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,251
- “sinking” frequency rank
- #2,917
- “smoking” frequency rank
- 12168
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sinking | smoking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | gerund of sink: the process by which something sinks, or is sunk. | present participle and gerund of smoke |
Where the eye mixes sinking and smoking
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sinking with smoking
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sinking is /ˈsɪŋkɪŋ/ while smoking is /ˈsməʊkɪŋ/. 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 12168, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sinking is recorded at frequency rank #9,251, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɪŋkɪŋ/. smoking is at rank #2,917, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsməʊkɪŋ/.
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 12168, this pair ranks #483,088 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sinking vs smoking
Shared letters: gikns. Private to "sinking": -. Private to "smoking": mo.
"sinking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "smoking" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sinking" and "smoking" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "sinking" or "smoking" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "sinking" and "smoking" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sinking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "smoking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #483,088 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sinking" and "smoking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sinking 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 #483,088 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.