# telling vs testing

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### telling
*verb · IPA /ˈtɛlɪŋ/ · frequency rank #1,288*
present participle and gerund of tell

### testing
*adjective · IPA /ˈtɛs.tɪŋ/ · frequency rank #2,184*
Difficult; tough.

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