stuffingvsstunningWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: stuffing is a verb, stunning is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“stuffing” is a verb and “stunning” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,709
“stuffing” frequency rank
#4,556
“stunning” frequency rank
20265
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stuffing stunning
Definition present participle and gerund of stuff Having an effect that stuns.

Letter map: stuffing vs stunning

Shared letters muted; letters that set stuffing and stunning apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

8 ch
stuffing
8 ch
stunning

Grammar separator: stuffing vs stunning

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: stuffing is averb and stunninganadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20265, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stuffing is recorded at frequency rank #15,709, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈstʌfɪŋ/. stunning is at rank #4,556, tagged as anadj.

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 20265, this pair ranks #432,320 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of stuffing vs stunning

Shared letters: ginstu. Private to "stuffing": f. Private to "stunning": -.

"stuffing" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC  ·  "stunning" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stuffingsstuffing · stfufing · sttuffing · stuffign · stuffingg · stuffinng · stuffnig · stufifng
  • stunningsstunning · stnuning · sttunning · stuning · stuninng · stunnign · stunningg · stunninng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "stuffing" for "stunning" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "stuffing" is a verb and "stunning" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "stuffing" vs "stunning" - which ranks higher?
"stunning" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,556 in our English list, against #15,709 for "stuffing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "stuffing" and "stunning".

  • Full dictionary entry for "stuffing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stunning" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #432,320 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stuffing" and "stunning" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stuffing vs stunting". 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 #432,320 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