# sucking vs suckling

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### sucking
*verb · IPA /ˈsʌkɪŋ/ · frequency rank #8,614*
present participle and gerund of suck

### suckling
*noun · frequency rank #39,119*
An infant that is still being breastfed (being suckled) by its mother.

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