aping

/ˈeɪ.pɪŋ/

//ˈeɪ.pɪŋ// verb

"aping" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“aping” is uncommon English (frequency #84,989 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#84,989
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of ape

Corpus desk

Index EN-aping · aping · English

aping · rank #84,989 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #84,989
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH Antara

Nearest frequency peer: Antara (-3 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “aping”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “aping” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for aping
PropertyValue
Headwordaping
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈeɪ.pɪŋ/
Letters5
Frequency rank#84,989
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “aping” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).apingfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Antara” (#84,986), “Arata” (#84,992), “Antananarivo” (#84,985). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “aping” is #84,989. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

aping is uncommon English at frequency #84,989 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈeɪ.pɪŋ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "present participle and gerund of ape".

Zero misspellings are on record for aping in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is aping, spelled A-P-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of ape

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "aping"?
"aping" is spelled A-P-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈeɪ.pɪŋ/.
What does "aping" mean?
As a verb, "aping" means: present participle and gerund of ape
How do you pronounce "aping"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "aping" is /ˈeɪ.pɪŋ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "aping" come from?
"aping" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "aping", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list