complaining
/kəmˈpleɪnɪŋ/
"complaining" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“complaining” has 17 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,867. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,867
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 17
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of complain
Corpus desk
Index EN-complaining · complaining · English
complaining · rank #5,867 · 17 variants · 1 confusable
- FREQ-COMMON #5,867
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 17 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH colony
Nearest frequency peer: colony (-1 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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “complaining”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- chasing
chasing
94,137 corpus weight
- climbing
climbing
94,136 corpus weight
- colony
colony
94,135 corpus weight
- complaining
complaining
94,134 corpus weight
- cookies
cookies
94,133 corpus weight
- cruel
cruel
94,132 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “complaining” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | complaining |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kəmˈpleɪnɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #5,867 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “complaining” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 17 spelling variants around complaining (IPA /kəmˈpleɪnɪŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #5,867 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of complain".
Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for complaining, with forms such as "ccomplaining", "cmoplaining", and "comlpaining". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "complainant", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is complaining, spelled C-O-M-P-L-A-I-N-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of complain
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccomplaining
- cmoplaining
- comlpaining
- commplaining
- compalining
- complaiinng
- complainign
- complainingg
- complaininng
- complainnig
- complainning
- complaniing
- complianing
- compllaining
- compplaining
- copmlaining
- ocmplaining
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of complaining - 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "complaining", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (17 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "complaining". Here's where to go from here.
- This headword has one recorded confusable pair with "complainant". View pair
- 17 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #5,867 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "C" letter cohort. C–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.