contrasting
"contrasting" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“contrasting” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,787 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #15,787
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 18
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Set in opposition; markedly different.
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 | contrasting |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #15,787 |
| Misspellings tracked | 18 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “contrasting” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for contrasting is 11 letters long, classified as an adjective. Corpus data places it at rank #15,787 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Set in opposition; markedly different.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 18 likely wrong-spelling variants for contrasting, with forms such as "ccontrasting", "cnotrasting", and "conntrasting". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "contacting", "contesting", "contracting", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From contrast + -ing. The correct English form is contrasting, spelled C-O-N-T-R-A-S-T-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1Set in opposition; markedly different.
Etymology
From contrast + -ing.
Antonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccontrasting,cnotrasting,conntrasting,conrtasting,contarsting,contrasitng,contrassting,contrastign,contrastingg,contrastinng,contrastnig,contrastting,contratsing,contrrasting,contrsating,conttrasting,cotnrasting,ocntrasting
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of contrasting - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "contrasting"?
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Using “contrasting”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-T-R-A-S-T-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “contacting” - see the side-by-side comparison. contrasting vs contacting
- 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.