Which to use
“thawing” is a verb and “trawling” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,414
- “thawing” frequency rank
- #45,132
- “trawling” frequency rank
- 88546
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thawing | trawling |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of thaw | A commercial fishing technique in which a net is dragged by a moving boat. Not to be confused with trolling, which drags (one or more) lines. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set thawing and trawling apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: thawing is averb and trawlinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thawing is recorded at frequency rank #43,414, classified as averb. trawling is at rank #45,132, 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 88546, this pair ranks #6,210 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of thawing vs trawling
Shared letters: agintw. Private to "thawing": h. Private to "trawling": lr.
"thawing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC · "trawling" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "thawing" and "trawling" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "thawing" or "trawling"?
Remembering thawing vs trawling
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “thawing”; for a noun, it's “trawling”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “thawing” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable