Which to use
“waiting” and “walking” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #938
- “waiting” frequency rank
- #1,472
- “walking” frequency rank
- 2410
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | waiting | walking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of wait | present participle and gerund of walk |
Where the eye mixes waiting and walking
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between waiting and walking
A purely visual mix-up. waiting (/ˈweɪtɪŋ/) and walking (/ˈwɔː.kɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
waiting is recorded at frequency rank #938, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈweɪtɪŋ/. walking is at rank #1,472, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈwɔː.kɪŋ/.
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 2410, this pair ranks #525,044 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of waiting vs walking
Shared letters: aginw. Private to "waiting": t. Private to "walking": kl.
"waiting" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "walking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "waiting" and "walking" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "waiting" or "walking"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "waiting" and "walking" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "waiting" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "walking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #525,044 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "waiting" and "walking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "walking vs whacking". 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 #525,044 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.