taskingvstaxingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tasking is a noun, taxing is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tasking” is a noun and “taxing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,129
“tasking” frequency rank
#17,043
“taxing” frequency rank
56172
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tasking taxing
Definition A task; an assigned item of work. present participle and gerund of tax

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tasking and taxing apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
tasking
6 ch
taxing

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tasking is anoun and taxingaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tasking is recorded at frequency rank #39,129, classified as anoun. taxing is at rank #17,043, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈtæksɪŋ/.

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 56172, this pair ranks #128,170 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tasking vs taxing

Shared letters: agint. Private to "tasking": ks. Private to "taxing": x.

"tasking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "taxing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taskingatsking · taksing · tasikng · taskign · taskingg · taskinng · taskking · tasknig
  • taxingatxing · taixng · taxign · taxingg · taxinng · taxnig · taxxing · ttaxing

Frequency comparison

tasking#39,129
taxing#17,043

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tasking" and "taxing" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tasking" is a noun and "taxing" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tasking" or "taxing"?
"taxing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,043 in our English list, against #39,129 for "tasking". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tasking vs taxing

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “tasking”; for a verb, it's “taxing”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tasking” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list