Which to use
“tailings” is a noun and “trailing” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,443
- “tailings” frequency rank
- #14,038
- “trailing” frequency rank
- 56481
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tailings | trailing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The waste that remains after the minerals have been extracted from an ore by ore dressing; the waste from coal mining. | That converge in the direction of travel. |
Letter map: tailings vs trailing
Shared letters muted; letters that set tailings and trailing apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.
Grammar separator: tailings vs trailing
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tailings is anoun and trailinganadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 7 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tailings is recorded at frequency rank #42,443, classified as anoun. trailing is at rank #14,038, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈtɹeɪ.lɪŋ/.
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 56481, this pair ranks #125,984 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tailings vs trailing
Shared letters: agilnt. Private to "tailings": s. Private to "trailing": r.
"tailings" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCC · "trailing" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tailings" for "trailing" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tailings" or "trailing"?
Useful next steps
Pair "tailings" vs "trailing" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "tailings" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "trailing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #125,984 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tailings" and "trailing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tailings vs toiling". 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 #125,984 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.