slowingvsspewingWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: slowing is a verb, spewing is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“slowing” is a verb and “spewing” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,122
“slowing” frequency rank
#27,653
“spewing” frequency rank
38775
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature slowing spewing
Definition present participle and gerund of slow Material spewed or vomited.

Letter map: slowing vs spewing

Shared letters muted; letters that set slowing and spewing apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
slowing
7 ch
spewing

Grammar separator: slowing vs spewing

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: slowing is averb and spewinganoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

slowing is recorded at frequency rank #11,122, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈslaː.ɪn/. spewing is at rank #27,653, 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 38775, this pair ranks #282,886 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of slowing vs spewing

Shared letters: ginsw. Private to "slowing": lo. Private to "spewing": ep.

"slowing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC  ·  "spewing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • slowinglsowing · sllowing · sloiwng · slowign · slowingg · slowinng · slownig · slowwing
  • spewingpsewing · sepwing · speiwng · spewign · spewingg · spewinng · spewnig · spewwing

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "slowing" for "spewing" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "slowing" is a verb and "spewing" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "slowing" vs "spewing" - which ranks higher?
"slowing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,122 in our English list, against #27,653 for "spewing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "slowing" vs "spewing" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "slowing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "spewing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,886 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "slowing" and "spewing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seeping vs spewing". 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 #282,886 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list