offing
/ˈɒfɪŋ/
"offing" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“offing” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #46,667 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #46,667
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and beyond the anchoring ground.
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 | offing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɒfɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #46,667 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “offing” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for offing is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɒfɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #46,667 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for offing, with forms such as "fofing", "offign", and "offingg". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "owing", "owning", "outing", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From off + -ing. Attested since before 1600. Early texts also spell the term offin and offen. The correct English form is offing, spelled O-F-F-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1The area of the sea in which a ship can be seen in the distance from land, excluding the parts nearest the shore, and beyond the anchoring ground.
- 2The distance that a ship at sea keeps away from land, often because of navigational dangers, fog and other hazards; a position at a distance from shore.
- 3The foreseeable future. Chiefly in the phrase in the offing.
Etymology
From off + -ing. Attested since before 1600. Early texts also spell the term offin and offen.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: fofing,offign,offingg,offinng,offnig,ofifng,ofing
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of offing - 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
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Using “offing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-F-F-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɒfɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “owing” - see the side-by-side comparison. offing vs owing
- 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.