Which to use
“walking” and “warning” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,472
- “walking” frequency rank
- #2,564
- “warning” frequency rank
- 4036
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | walking | warning |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of walk | present participle of warn |
Where the eye mixes walking and warning
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between walking and warning
A purely visual mix-up. walking (/ˈwɔː.kɪŋ/) and warning (/ˈwɔɹnɪŋ/) 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 4036, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
walking is recorded at frequency rank #1,472, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈwɔː.kɪŋ/. warning is at rank #2,564, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈwɔɹnɪŋ/.
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 4036, this pair ranks #520,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of walking vs warning
Shared letters: aginw. Private to "walking": kl. Private to "warning": r.
"walking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "warning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "walking" and "warning" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "walking" or "warning"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "walking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "warning" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #520,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "walking" and "warning" 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 #520,205 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.