Which to use
“walking” is a verb and “winking” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,472
- “walking” frequency rank
- #36,397
- “winking” frequency rank
- 37869
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | walking | winking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of walk | The act of someone who winks. |
Letter map: walking vs winking
Shared letters muted; letters that set walking and winking apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - walking and winking
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: walking is averb and winkinganoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37869, 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/. winking is at rank #36,397, tagged as anoun.
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 37869, this pair ranks #290,771 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of walking vs winking
Shared letters: giknw. Private to "walking": al. Private to "winking": -.
"walking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "winking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "walking" and "winking" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "walking" or "winking"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "walking" and "winking".
- Full dictionary entry for "walking" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "winking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #290,771 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "walking" and "winking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "winging vs winking". 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 #290,771 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.