vexingvsvotingWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#48,549
“vexing” frequency rank
#2,421
“voting” frequency rank
50970
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vexing voting
Definition present participle and gerund of vex Having an associated right for the holder to vote as an owner of business.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
vexing
6 ch
voting

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: vexing is averb and votinganadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vexing is recorded at frequency rank #48,549, classified as averb. voting is at rank #2,421, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈvoʊtɪŋ/.

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 50970, this pair ranks #169,519 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vexing vs voting

Shared letters: ginv. Private to "vexing": ex. Private to "voting": ot.

"vexing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "voting" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vexingevxing · veixng · vexign · vexingg · vexinng · vexnig · vexxing · vvexing
  • votingovting · voitng · votign · votingg · votinng · votnig · votting · vtoing

Frequency comparison

vexing#48,549
voting#2,421

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vexing" and "voting" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vexing" is a verb and "voting" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vexing" or "voting"?
"voting" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,421 in our English list, against #48,549 for "vexing". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering vexing vs voting

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “vexing”; for an adjective, it's “voting”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “vexing” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list