cooking

/ˈkʊk.ɪŋ/

//ˈkʊk.ɪŋ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"cooking" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“cooking” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,287. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,287
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
19
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The process of preparing food by using heat.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cooking · cooking · English

cooking · rank #3,287 · 9 variants · 19 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,287
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 19 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH contained

Nearest frequency peer: contained (-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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “cooking”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “cooking” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

cooking vs coping
71% similar
cooking vs cooling
86% similar
cooking vs copying
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for cooking
PropertyValue
Headwordcooking
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈkʊk.ɪŋ/
Letters7
Frequency rank#3,287
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs19
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “cooking”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).cookinglands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “contained” (#3,286), “covering” (#3,288), “compare” (#3,285). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “cooking” is #3,287. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around cooking (IPA /ˈkʊk.ɪŋ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,287 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for cooking, with forms such as "ccooking", "cokoing", and "cooikng". 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 19 confusable-pair relationships, "coping", "cooling", "copying", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From cook + -ing. The noun and adjective follow from the verb. The use of the word cooking to describe cheap bitter was popularized by the title character of the BBC sitcom Oh No, It’s Selwyn Froggitt (1974-1978). It refers to cooking sherry, a kind of sher… The correct English form is cooking, spelled C-O-O-K-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    The process of preparing food by using heat.
  2. 2
    An instance of preparing food by using heat.
  3. 3
    The result of preparing food by using heat.
  4. 4
    The result of preparing food by using heat.
  5. 5
    The cheapest available beer for sale in a public house.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how cooking appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The men resided in a huge bunk house, which consisted of one room only, with a shack outside where the cooking was done. In the large room were a dozen bunks; half of them in a very dishevelled state, […]
  2. The cooking took a long time. Fionn built a spit from the ash that the salmon had knocked down.

Etymology

From cook + -ing. The noun and adjective follow from the verb. The use of the word cooking to describe cheap bitter was popularized by the title character of the BBC sitcom Oh No, It’s Selwyn Froggitt (1974-1978). It refers to cooking sherry, a kind of sherry used in cooking but not suitable for drinking on its own.

Synonyms

culinary art

This word in other languages

cocción(Español)cuisine(Français)Kochen(Deutsch)cozinha(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccooking
  • cokoing
  • cooikng
  • cookign
  • cookingg
  • cookinng
  • cookking
  • cooknig
  • ocoking

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cooking - 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.

ccooking1cokoing2cooikng2cookign2cookingg1cookinng1cookking1cooknig2
Edit distance from "cooking"

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 "cooking"?
"cooking" is spelled C-O-O-K-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkʊk.ɪŋ/.
What does "cooking" mean?
As a noun, "cooking" means: The process of preparing food by using heat.
What words are commonly confused with "cooking"?
"cooking" is commonly confused with "coping", "cooling", "copying". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cooking"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cooking" is /ˈkʊk.ɪŋ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "cooking"?
From cook + -ing. The noun and adjective follow from the verb. The use of the word cooking to describe cheap bitter was popularized by the title character of the BBC sitcom Oh No, It’s Selwyn Froggitt (1974-1978). It refers to cooking sherry, a ki... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "cooking", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

compare#3,285curious#3,289charity#3,283anxiety#3,278

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

castle9 variantsfinals9 variantsformal9 variantsactress9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list