milking

verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"milking" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“milking” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #22,739. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#22,739
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
14
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of milk

Corpus desk

Index EN-milking · milking · English

milking · rank #22,739 · 11 variants · 14 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #22,739
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 14 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Marcia

Nearest frequency peer: Marcia (-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 “milking”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “milking” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

milking vs mining
71% similar
milking vs mixing
71% similar
milking vs missing
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for milking
PropertyValue
Headwordmilking
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters7
Frequency rank#22,739
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs14
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “milking”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).milkinglands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Marcia” (#22,738), “millennia” (#22,740), “marbles” (#22,737). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “milking” is #22,739. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around milking, averb. Corpus frequency is #22,739 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of milk".

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for milking, with forms such as "imlking", "mikling", and "milikng". 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 14 confusable-pair relationships, "mining", "mixing", "missing", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English mylkand, from Old English meolcġende, present participle of Old English meolcian, milcian (“to milk”), equivalent to milk + -ing. The correct English form is milking, spelled M-I-L-K-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of milk

Etymology

From Middle English mylkand, from Old English meolcġende, present participle of Old English meolcian, milcian (“to milk”), equivalent to milk + -ing.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • imlking
  • mikling
  • milikng
  • milkign
  • milkingg
  • milkinng
  • milkking
  • milknig
  • millking
  • mliking
  • mmilking

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of milking - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

imlking2mikling2milikng2milkign2milkingg1milkinng1milkking1milknig2
Edit distance from "milking"

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 "milking"?
"milking" is spelled M-I-L-K-I-N-G.
What does "milking" mean?
As a verb, "milking" means: present participle and gerund of milk
What words are commonly confused with "milking"?
"milking" is commonly confused with "mining", "mixing", "missing". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "milking"?
From Middle English mylkand, from Old English meolcġende, present participle of Old English meolcian, milcian (“to milk”), equivalent to milk + -ing. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "milking", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

marbles#22,737molding#22,743Mustafa#22,747nodding#22,748

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

mammalian11 variantsMadeline11 variantsliturgy11 variantslifeboat11 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list