weldingvswellingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: welding is a noun, welling is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“welding” is a noun and “welling” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,252
“welding” frequency rank
#40,970
“welling” frequency rank
55222
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature welding welling
Definition The action or process of welding: present participle and gerund of well

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set welding and welling apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
welding
7 ch
welling

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: welding is /ˈwɛldɪŋ/ while welling is /ˈwɛlɪŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “welding” becomes l in “welling”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

welding is recorded at frequency rank #14,252, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɛldɪŋ/. welling is at rank #40,970, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈwɛlɪŋ/.

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 55222, this pair ranks #135,224 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of welding vs welling

Shared letters: egilnw. Private to "welding": d. Private to "welling": -.

"welding" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "welling" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weldingewlding · wedling · weldding · weldign · weldingg · weldinng · weldnig · welidng
  • wellingewlling · welilng · weling · wellign · wellingg · wellinng · wellnig · wleling

Frequency comparison

welding#14,252
welling#40,970

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "welding" and "welling" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "welding" is a noun and "welling" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "welding" or "welling"?
"welding" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,252 in our English list, against #40,970 for "welling". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering welding vs welling

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “welding”; for a verb, it's “welling”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “welding” 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