Which to use
“spacing” and “staring” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,795
- “spacing” frequency rank
- #5,734
- “staring” frequency rank
- 22529
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spacing | staring |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of space | present participle and gerund of stare |
Where the eye mixes spacing and staring
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: spacing vs staring
A purely visual mix-up. spacing (/ˈspeɪsɪŋ/) and staring (/ˈstɛəɹɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spacing is recorded at frequency rank #16,795, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈspeɪsɪŋ/. staring is at rank #5,734, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈstɛəɹɪŋ/.
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 22529, this pair ranks #415,904 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spacing vs staring
Shared letters: agins. Private to "spacing": cp. Private to "staring": rt.
"spacing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "staring" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "spacing" and "staring" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "spacing" or "staring" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "spacing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "staring" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,904 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spacing" and "staring" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spacing vs spiking". 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 #415,904 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.