downloading
/ˈdaʊnloʊdɪŋ/
"downloading" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“downloading” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,203 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #11,203
- frequency rank, English
- 11
- letters
- 17
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of download
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 | downloading |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈdaʊnloʊdɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #11,203 |
| Misspellings tracked | 17 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “downloading” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for downloading is 11 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdaʊnloʊdɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,203 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "present participle and gerund of download".
Our generated misspelling index lists 17 likely wrong-spelling variants for downloading, with forms such as "ddownloading", "donwloading", and "dowlnoading". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "downgrading", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is downloading, spelled D-O-W-N-L-O-A-D-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of download
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ddownloading,donwloading,dowlnoading,downlaoding,downlloading,downloadding,downloadign,downloadingg,downloadinng,downloadnig,downloaidng,downlodaing,downnloading,downolading,dowwnloading,dwonloading,odwnloading
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of downloading - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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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Using “downloading”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-W-N-L-O-A-D-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈdaʊnloʊdɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “downgrading” - see the side-by-side comparison. downloading vs downgrading
- 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.