pining

/ˈpaɪnɪŋ/

//ˈpaɪnɪŋ// verb

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

"pining" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pining” has 7 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #39,480. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#39,480
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

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

Corpus desk

Index EN-pining · pining · English

pining · rank #39,480 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #39,480
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH Pinoy

Nearest frequency peer: Pinoy (+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 “pining”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “pining” 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).

pining vs posing
67% similar
pining vs piping
83% similar
pining vs poking
67% similar

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

Key facts for pining
PropertyValue
Headwordpining
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈpaɪnɪŋ/
Letters6
Frequency rank#39,480
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “pining”

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).pininglands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “Pinoy” (#39,481), “piranha” (#39,482), “pix” (#39,483). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “pining” is #39,480. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around pining (IPA /ˈpaɪnɪŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #39,480 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of pine".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for pining, with forms such as "ipning", "piinng", and "pinign". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "posing", "piping", "poking", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is pining, spelled P-I-N-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of pine

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ipning
  • piinng
  • pinign
  • piningg
  • pinnig
  • pniing
  • ppining

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pining - 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.

ipning2piinng2pinign2piningg1pinnig2pniing2ppining1
Edit distance from "pining"

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 "pining"?
"pining" is spelled P-I-N-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpaɪnɪŋ/.
What does "pining" mean?
As a verb, "pining" means: present participle and gerund of pine
What words are commonly confused with "pining"?
"pining" is commonly confused with "posing", "piping", "poking". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pining"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pining" is /ˈpaɪnɪŋ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pining" come from?
"pining" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "pining", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Petrov#39,476punchy#39,501railed#39,512Rajesh#39,514

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

Pinoy7 variantsPonte7 variantsquash7 variantsredox7 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list