trigvstryingWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“trig” and “trying” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,963
“trig” frequency rank
#322
“trying” frequency rank
43285
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature trig trying
Definition True; trusty; trustworthy; faithful. Difficult to endure; arduous.

Where the eye mixes trig and trying

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
trig
6 ch
trying

Look-alike desk: trig vs trying

A purely visual mix-up. trig (/tɹɪɡ/) and trying (/ˈtɹaɪ.ɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43285, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

trig is recorded at frequency rank #42,963, classified as anadj, pronounced /tɹɪɡ/. trying is at rank #322, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈtɹaɪ.ɪŋ/.

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 43285, this pair ranks #241,465 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of trig vs trying

Shared letters: girt. Private to "trig": -. Private to "trying": ny.

"trig" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "trying" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • trigrtig · tirg · trgi · trigg · trrig · ttrig
  • tryingrtying · triyng · trrying · tryign · tryingg · tryinng · trynig · tryying

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "trig" and "trying" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/tɹɪɡ/ versus /ˈtɹaɪ.ɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "trig" or "trying" show up more?
"trying" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #322 in our English list, against #42,963 for "trig". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "trig" and "trying" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "trig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trying" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #241,465 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "trig" and "trying" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Trav vs trig". 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 #241,465 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list