coughing
"coughing" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“coughing” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,789. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #15,789
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A cough; the act of coughing.
Corpus desk
Index EN-coughing · coughing · English
coughing · rank #15,789 · 12 variants · 8 confusables
- FREQ-MID #15,789
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-MID 8 pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH convergence
Nearest frequency peer: convergence (-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 “coughing”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- contraction
contraction
84,215 corpus weight
- contrasting
contrasting
84,214 corpus weight
- convergence
convergence
84,213 corpus weight
- coughing
coughing
84,212 corpus weight
- criterion
criterion
84,211 corpus weight
- crowns
crowns
84,209 corpus weight
What this shows “coughing” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | coughing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #15,789 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “coughing”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around coughing, anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,789 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for coughing, with forms such as "ccoughing", "coguhing", and "cougghing". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 8 confusable-pair relationships, "counting", "crushing", "coupling", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
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 coughing, spelled C-O-U-G-H-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1A cough; the act of coughing.
- 2A repetitive vocalisation of a bird or other animal that resembles human coughing.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how coughing appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The good signor's little address was received in a variety of ways: there were titterings and coughings, and there were also a few instances of noble and generous response to poor Leonard's action […]
"I've been directed here to find Miss Susan Pike," the man outside explained, between fresh coughings. ¶ "Well, then, mog your boots out of this as quick as ever you can!" my Aunt replied, with great promptitude. "You won't find her here!"
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccoughing
- coguhing
- cougghing
- coughhing
- coughign
- coughingg
- coughinng
- coughnig
- cougihng
- couhging
- cuoghing
- ocughing
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of coughing - 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 "coughing"?
What does "coughing" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "coughing"?
What language does "coughing" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "coughing", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).