wingingvswringingWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“winging” and “wringing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,424
“winging” frequency rank
#41,957
“wringing” frequency rank
89381
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature winging wringing
Definition present participle and gerund of wing present participle and gerund of wring

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set winging and wringing apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
winging
8 ch
wringing

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

winging and wringing are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89381, 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/. wringing is at rank #41,957, tagged as averb.

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 89381, this pair ranks #5,248 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of winging vs wringing

Shared letters: ginw. Private to "winging": -. Private to "wringing": r.

"winging" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "wringing" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wingingiwnging · wigning · wingging · wingign · wingingg · winginng · wingnig · winigng
  • wringingrwinging · wirnging · wrigning · wringging · wringign · wringingg · wringinng · wringnig

Frequency comparison

winging#47,424
wringing#41,957

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "winging" and "wringing" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "winging" or "wringing"?
"wringing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,957 in our English list, against #47,424 for "winging". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering winging vs wringing

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “winging” 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