pointing
/ˈpɔɪntɪŋ/
"pointing" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pointing” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,152 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,152
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 15
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The action of the verb to point.
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 | pointing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɔɪntɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #5,152 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 15 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pointing” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for pointing is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɔɪntɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,152 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for pointing, with forms such as "opinting", "pionting", and "poinitng". 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 15 confusable-pair relationships, "posting", "potting", "pouting", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From point + -ing. The correct English form is pointing, spelled P-O-I-N-T-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1The action of the verb to point.
- 2The filling of joints in brickwork or masonry with mortar.
- 3Mortar that has been placed between bricks to fill the gap.
- 4The act or art of punctuating; punctuation.
- 5The rubbing off of the point of the wheat grain in the first process of high milling.
- 6The act or process of measuring, at the various distances from the surface of a block of marble, the surface of a future piece of statuary; also, a process used in cutting the statue from the artist's model.
- 7In Anglican chant:
- 8In Anglican chant:
- 9Synonym of nikud.
Etymology
From point + -ing.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: opinting,pionting,poinitng,poinnting,pointign,pointingg,pointinng,pointnig,pointting,poitning,poniting,ppointing
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pointing - 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
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Using “pointing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-I-N-T-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɔɪntɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “posting” - see the side-by-side comparison. pointing vs posting
- 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.