# tearing vs treading

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### tearing
*verb · IPA /ˈtɛə.ɹɪŋ/ · frequency rank #9,831*
present participle and gerund of tear

### treading
*verb · frequency rank #33,065*
present participle and gerund of tread

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tearing-vs-treading