going
/ˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/
"going" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“going” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #122 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #122
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of go
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 | going |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #122 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “going” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for going is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #122 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for going, with forms such as "ggoing", "giong", and "goign". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "gone", "gown", "grin", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Verb form from Middle English goinge, goynge, gayng, variants of gonde, goonde, gaand, from Old English gānde, from Proto-Germanic *gēndz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *gēną, *gāną (“to go”), equivalent to go + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian geanen… The correct English form is going, spelled G-O-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of go
- 2Attending or visiting (a stated event, place, etc.) habitually or regularly.
Etymology
Verb form from Middle English goinge, goynge, gayng, variants of gonde, goonde, gaand, from Old English gānde, from Proto-Germanic *gēndz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *gēną, *gāną (“to go”), equivalent to go + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian geanend (“going”), Dutch gaand (“going”), German gehend (“going”), Danish gående (“going”), Swedish gående (“going”). Noun and adjective from Middle English going, goyng, gaing, gayng, equivalent to go + -ing. Compare German Gehung, Old English gang (“a going”). More at gang.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ggoing,giong,goign,goingg,goinng,gonig,oging
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of going - 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
How do you spell "going"?
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Using “going”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-O-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “gone” - see the side-by-side comparison. going vs gone
- 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.