wiringvswritingWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#14,457
“wiring” frequency rank
#920
“writing” frequency rank
15377
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wiring writing
Definition present participle and gerund of wire Graphism of symbols such as letters that express some meaning.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wiring and writing apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
wiring
7 ch
writing

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: wiring is averb and writinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15377, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wiring is recorded at frequency rank #14,457, classified as averb. writing is at rank #920, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹaɪtɪŋ/.

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 15377, this pair ranks #464,305 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of wiring vs writing

Shared letters: ginrw. Private to "wiring": -. Private to "writing": t.

"wiring" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "writing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wiringiwring · wiirng · wirign · wiringg · wirinng · wirnig · wirring · wriing
  • writingrwiting · wirting · wriitng · writign · writingg · writinng · writnig · writting

Frequency comparison

wiring#14,457
writing#920

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wiring" and "writing" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wiring" is a verb and "writing" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wiring" or "writing"?
"writing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #920 in our English list, against #14,457 for "wiring". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering wiring vs writing

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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