Which to use
“winging” and “winning” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,424
- “winging” frequency rank
- #1,132
- “winning” frequency rank
- 48556
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | winging | winning |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of wing | present participle and gerund of win |
Where the eye mixes winging and winning
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. winging and winning follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses winging with winning
A purely visual mix-up. winging (/ˈwɪŋɪŋ/) and winning (/ˈwɪnɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - g in “winging” becomes n in “winning”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
winging is recorded at frequency rank #47,424, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈwɪŋɪŋ/. winning is at rank #1,132, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈwɪnɪŋ/.
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 48556, this pair ranks #191,927 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of winging vs winning
Shared letters: ginw. Private to "winging": -. Private to "winning": -.
"winging" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "winning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "winging" for "winning" ever safe?
Which is more common, "winging" or "winning"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "winging" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "winning" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #191,927 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "winging" and "winning" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wiggling vs winging". 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 #191,927 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.