looking
/ˈlʊkɪŋ/
"looking" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“looking” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #242. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #242
- frequency rank, English
- 2,297
- “L” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of look
Corpus desk
Index EN-looking · looking · English
looking · rank #242 · 10 variants · 18 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #242
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,297
- PHOTO-FINISH group
Nearest frequency peer: group (-1 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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “looking”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- god
god
99,762 corpus weight
- government
government
99,761 corpus weight
- group
group
99,760 corpus weight
- looking
looking
99,759 corpus weight
- public
public
99,758 corpus weight
- top
top
99,757 corpus weight
What this shows “looking” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | looking |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈlʊkɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #242 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “looking”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around looking (IPA /ˈlʊkɪŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #242 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for looking, with forms such as "llooking", "loking", and "lokoing". 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 18 confusable-pair relationships, "losing", "loving", "loring", 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 lokynge, from earlier lokinde, lokende, from Old English lōciende, present participle of Old English lōcian (“to look”), equivalent to look + -ing. The correct English form is looking, spelled L-O-O-K-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of look
- 2as the last part of compound adjectives: relating to or having the appearance of.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how looking appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
dorky-looking
By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.
Etymology
From Middle English lokynge, from earlier lokinde, lokende, from Old English lōciende, present participle of Old English lōcian (“to look”), equivalent to look + -ing.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- llooking
- loking
- lokoing
- looikng
- lookign
- lookingg
- lookinng
- lookking
- looknig
- oloking
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of looking - 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 "looking"?
What does "looking" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "looking"?
How do you pronounce "looking"?
What is the origin of the word "looking"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "looking", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).