dulling

/ˈdʌlɪŋ/

//ˈdʌlɪŋ// verb

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

The verdict

“dulling” is uncommon English (frequency #84,189 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#84,189
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of dull

Corpus desk

Index EN-dulling · dulling · English

dulling · rank #84,189 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #84,189
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH Dressler

Nearest frequency peer: Dressler (-2 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.

Long-tail ranks near “dulling”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “dulling” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dulling
PropertyValue
Headworddulling
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈdʌlɪŋ/
Letters7
Frequency rank#84,189
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “dulling” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).dullingfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Dressler” (#84,187), “Dysart” (#84,191), “dorf” (#84,185). Among 3,470 “D” headwords, “dulling” is #84,189. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dulling is uncommon English at frequency #84,189 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈdʌlɪŋ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "present participle and gerund of dull".

No generated misspelling entries exist for dulling in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is dulling, spelled D-U-L-L-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of dull

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 "dulling"?
"dulling" is spelled D-U-L-L-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈdʌlɪŋ/.
What does "dulling" mean?
As a verb, "dulling" means: present participle and gerund of dull
How do you pronounce "dulling"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dulling" is /ˈdʌlɪŋ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dulling" come from?
"dulling" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "dulling", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list