Which to use
“tanning” is a verb and “thanking” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,482
- “tanning” frequency rank
- #14,649
- “thanking” frequency rank
- 34131
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tanning | thanking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of tan | The act by which thanks are given; thanks. |
Letter map: tanning vs thanking
Shared letters muted; letters that set tanning and thanking apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Part-of-speech tell for tanning / thanking
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tanning is averb and thankinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tanning is recorded at frequency rank #19,482, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈtænɪŋ/. thanking is at rank #14,649, 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 34131, this pair ranks #323,390 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tanning vs thanking
Shared letters: agint. Private to "tanning": -. Private to "thanking": hk.
"tanning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "thanking" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tanning" for "thanking" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tanning" vs "thanking" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tanning" and "thanking".
- Full dictionary entry for "tanning" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thanking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #323,390 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tanning" and "thanking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tailing vs tanning". 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 #323,390 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.