Which to use
“tailing” and “trawling” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,442
- “tailing” frequency rank
- #45,132
- “trawling” frequency rank
- 87574
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tailing | trawling |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of following someone. | A commercial fishing technique in which a net is dragged by a moving boat. Not to be confused with trolling, which drags (one or more) lines. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tailing and trawling apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
tailing and trawling are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tailing is recorded at frequency rank #42,442, classified as anoun. trawling is at rank #45,132, 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 87574, this pair ranks #7,420 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tailing vs trawling
Shared letters: agilnt. Private to "tailing": -. Private to "trawling": rw.
"tailing" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "trawling" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tailing" and "trawling" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tailing" or "trawling"?
Remembering tailing vs trawling
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tailing” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable