# staying vs sting

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### staying
*verb · IPA /ˈsteɪ.ɪŋ/ · frequency rank #2,764*
present participle and gerund of stay

### sting
*noun · IPA /ˈstɪŋ/ · frequency rank #9,674*
A bump left on the skin after having been stung.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/staying-vs-sting