masking
"masking" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“masking” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #24,506 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #24,506
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 15
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of mask
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 | masking |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #24,506 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 15 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “masking” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for masking is 7 letters long, classified as a verb. Corpus data places it at rank #24,506 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "present participle and gerund of mask".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for masking, with forms such as "amsking", "maksing", and "masikng". 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 15 confusable-pair relationships, "mating", "musing", "missing", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: By surface analysis, mask + -ing. The correct English form is masking, spelled M-A-S-K-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of mask
Etymology
By surface analysis, mask + -ing.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amsking,maksing,masikng,maskign,maskingg,maskinng,maskking,masknig,massking,mmasking,msaking
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of masking - 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
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Using “masking”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-S-K-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “mating” - see the side-by-side comparison. masking vs mating
- 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.