compelling
/kəmˈpɛlɪŋ/
"compelling" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“compelling” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,324 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #7,324
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of compel
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | compelling |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kəmˈpɛlɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #7,324 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “compelling” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for compelling is 10 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kəmˈpɛlɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,324 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "present participle and gerund of compel".
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for compelling, with forms such as "ccompelling", "cmopelling", and "comeplling". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "competing", "complying", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: By surface analysis, compel + -ing. The correct English form is compelling, spelled C-O-M-P-E-L-L-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of compel
Etymology
By surface analysis, compel + -ing.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccompelling,cmopelling,comeplling,commpelling,compelilng,compeling,compellign,compellingg,compellinng,compellnig,compleling,comppelling,copmelling,ocmpelling
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of compelling - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "compelling"?
What does "compelling" mean?
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Using “compelling”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-M-P-E-L-L-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kəmˈpɛlɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “competing” - see the side-by-side comparison. compelling vs competing
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.