imitating
/ˈɪməteɪtɪŋ/
"imitating" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“imitating” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #22,406. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #22,406
- frequency rank, English
- 17,902
- “I” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of imitate
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 | imitating |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈɪməteɪtɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #22,406 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “imitating” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around imitating (IPA /ˈɪməteɪtɪŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #22,406 among 17,902 “I” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of imitate".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for imitating, with forms such as "iimtating", "imiatting", and "imitaitng". 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 2 confusable-pair relationships, "imitation", "irritating", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is imitating, spelled I-M-I-T-A-T-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of imitate
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- iimtating
- imiatting
- imitaitng
- imitatign
- imitatingg
- imitatinng
- imitatnig
- imitatting
- imittaing
- imittating
- immitating
- imtiating
- miitating
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of imitating - 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
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Using “imitating”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-M-I-T-A-T-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɪməteɪtɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “imitation” - see the side-by-side comparison. imitating vs imitation
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.