tiringvstrigWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tiring is a verb, trig is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tiring” is a verb and “trig” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,978
“tiring” frequency rank
#42,963
“trig” frequency rank
60941
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tiring trig
Definition present participle and gerund of tire True; trusty; trustworthy; faithful.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tiring and trig apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
tiring
4 ch
trig

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tiring is /ˈtaɪəɹɪŋ/ while trig is /tɹɪɡ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tiring is recorded at frequency rank #17,978, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈtaɪəɹɪŋ/. trig is at rank #42,963, tagged as anadj, pronounced /tɹɪɡ/.

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 60941, this pair ranks #97,261 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tiring vs trig

Shared letters: girt. Private to "tiring": n. Private to "trig": -.

"tiring" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "trig" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tiringitring · tiirng · tirign · tiringg · tirinng · tirnig · tirring · triing
  • trigrtig · tirg · trgi · trigg · trrig · ttrig

Frequency comparison

tiring#17,978
trig#42,963

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tiring" and "trig" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tiring" is a verb and "trig" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tiring" or "trig"?
"tiring" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,978 in our English list, against #42,963 for "trig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tiring vs trig

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “tiring”; for an adjective, it's “trig”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tiring” 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