Which to use
“taking” is an adjective and “timing” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #406
- “taking” frequency rank
- #4,418
- “timing” frequency rank
- 4824
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | taking | timing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alluring; attractive. | An occurrence or event. |
Where the eye mixes taking and timing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between taking and timing
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: taking is /ˈteɪkɪŋ/ while timing is /ˈtaɪmɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4824, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
taking is recorded at frequency rank #406, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈteɪkɪŋ/. timing is at rank #4,418, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtaɪmɪŋ/.
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 4824, this pair ranks #517,551 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of taking vs timing
Shared letters: gint. Private to "taking": ak. Private to "timing": m.
"taking" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "timing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "taking" and "timing" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "taking" or "timing" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "taking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "timing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #517,551 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "taking" and "timing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "timing 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 #517,551 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.