kissing
/ˈkɪsɪŋ/
"kissing" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“kissing” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,467 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #7,467
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of kiss
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 | kissing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈkɪsɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #7,467 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “kissing” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for kissing is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɪsɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,467 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "present participle and gerund of kiss".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for kissing, with forms such as "ikssing", "kising", and "kisisng". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "Kissinger", "killing", "kidding", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English kissynge, cussinde, from Old English cyssende, from Proto-West Germanic *kussijandī, from Proto-Germanic *kussijandz, equivalent to kiss + -ing. Cognate with Saterland Frisian küsjend, Dutch kussend, German Low German küssend, German küs… The correct English form is kissing, spelled K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of kiss
Etymology
From Middle English kissynge, cussinde, from Old English cyssende, from Proto-West Germanic *kussijandī, from Proto-Germanic *kussijandz, equivalent to kiss + -ing. Cognate with Saterland Frisian küsjend, Dutch kussend, German Low German küssend, German küssend, Swedish kyssande, Icelandic kyssandi.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ikssing,kising,kisisng,kissign,kissingg,kissinng,kissnig,kkissing,ksising
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of kissing - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "kissing"?
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Using “kissing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is K-I-S-S-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɪsɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Kissinger” - see the side-by-side comparison. kissing vs Kissinger
- 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.