Which to use
“winking” is a noun and “winning” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,397
- “winking” frequency rank
- #1,132
- “winning” frequency rank
- 37529
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | winking | winning |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of someone who winks. | present participle and gerund of win |
Letter map: winking vs winning
Shared letters muted; letters that set winking and winning apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Grammar separator: winking vs winning
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: winking is anoun and winningaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - k in “winking” becomes n in “winning”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
winking is recorded at frequency rank #36,397, classified as anoun. 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 37529, this pair ranks #293,785 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of winking vs winning
Shared letters: ginw. Private to "winking": k. Private to "winning": -.
"winking" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "winning" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "winking" and "winning" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "winking" or "winning" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "winking" and "winning".
- Full dictionary entry for "winking" 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 #293,785 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "winking" and "winning" 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 #293,785 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.