opening
/ˈəʊ.pə.nɪŋ/
"opening" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“opening” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,229 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #1,229
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of open
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 | opening |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈəʊ.pə.nɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #1,229 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “opening” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for opening is 7 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈəʊ.pə.nɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,229 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 open".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for opening, with forms such as "oepning", "opeinng", and "openign". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "owning", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English openynge, openande, openand, from Old English openiende, from Proto-West Germanic *opanōndī, from Proto-Germanic *upanōndz, present participle of *upanōną (“to open”), equivalent to open + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian iepenjend, Dutch… The correct English form is opening, spelled O-P-E-N-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of open
Etymology
From Middle English openynge, openande, openand, from Old English openiende, from Proto-West Germanic *opanōndī, from Proto-Germanic *upanōndz, present participle of *upanōną (“to open”), equivalent to open + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian iepenjend, Dutch openend, German öffnend, Swedish öppnande, Icelandic opnandi.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: oepning,opeinng,openign,openingg,openinng,opennig,openning,opneing,oppening,poening
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of opening - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "opening"?
What does "opening" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "opening"?
How do you pronounce "opening"?
What is the origin of the word "opening"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “opening”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-P-E-N-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈəʊ.pə.nɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “owning” - see the side-by-side comparison. opening vs owning
- 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.