Which to use
“sinking” and “sulking” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,251
- “sinking” frequency rank
- #48,518
- “sulking” frequency rank
- 57769
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sinking | sulking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | gerund of sink: the process by which something sinks, or is sunk. | The act of one who sulks. |
Letter map: sinking vs sulking
Shared letters muted; letters that set sinking and sulking apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. sinking and sulking follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Spelling & dictionary notes on sinking vs sulking
sinking and sulking are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57769, 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/. sulking is at rank #48,518, tagged as anoun.
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 57769, this pair ranks #117,103 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sinking vs sulking
Shared letters: gikns. Private to "sinking": -. Private to "sulking": lu.
"sinking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "sulking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sinking" and "sulking" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "sinking" vs "sulking" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "sinking" and "sulking". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "sinking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sulking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #117,103 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sinking" and "sulking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suiting 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 #117,103 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.