Which to use
“trawling” is a noun and “trolling” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,132
- “trawling” frequency rank
- #16,373
- “trolling” frequency rank
- 61505
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | trawling | trolling |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | present participle and gerund of troll |
Letter map: trawling vs trolling
Shared letters muted; letters that set trawling and trolling apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Role in the sentence - trawling and trolling
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: trawling is anoun and trollingaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
trawling is recorded at frequency rank #45,132, classified as anoun. trolling is at rank #16,373, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈtɹɒlɪŋ/.
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 61505, this pair ranks #93,857 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of trawling vs trolling
Shared letters: gilnrt. Private to "trawling": aw. Private to "trolling": o.
"trawling" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC · "trolling" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "trawling" and "trolling" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "trawling" vs "trolling" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "trawling" and "trolling".
- Full dictionary entry for "trawling" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "trolling" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,857 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "trawling" and "trolling" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thawing vs trawling". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #93,857 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.