sailing

/ˈseɪ.lɪŋ/

//ˈseɪ.lɪŋ// verb

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

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

The verdict

“sailing” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,283. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,283
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

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

Corpus desk

Index EN-sailing · sailing · English

sailing · rank #7,283 · 10 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,283
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH roller

Nearest frequency peer: roller (-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 “sailing”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “sailing” 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).

sailing vs sling
71% similar
sailing vs saying
71% similar
sailing vs saving
71% similar

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

Key facts for sailing
PropertyValue
Headwordsailing
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈseɪ.lɪŋ/
Letters7
Frequency rank#7,283
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “sailing”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).sailinglands 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 “roller” (#7,282), “shapes” (#7,284), “skinny” (#7,285). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “sailing” is #7,283. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around sailing (IPA /ˈseɪ.lɪŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #7,283 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of sail".

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for sailing, with forms such as "asiling", "saiilng", and "sailign". 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, "sling", "saying", "saving", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English saylinge, seilinge, variants of sailende, seilende; equivalent to sail + -ing. Cognate with Dutch zeilend (“sailing”). The correct English form is sailing, spelled S-A-I-L-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of sail

Etymology

From Middle English saylinge, seilinge, variants of sailende, seilende; equivalent to sail + -ing. Cognate with Dutch zeilend (“sailing”).

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • asiling
  • saiilng
  • sailign
  • sailingg
  • sailinng
  • sailling
  • sailnig
  • saliing
  • sialing
  • ssailing

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

asiling2saiilng2sailign2sailingg1sailinng1sailling1sailnig2saliing2
Edit distance from "sailing"

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 "sailing"?
"sailing" is spelled S-A-I-L-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈseɪ.lɪŋ/.
What does "sailing" mean?
As a verb, "sailing" means: present participle and gerund of sail
What words are commonly confused with "sailing"?
"sailing" is commonly confused with "sling", "saying", "saving". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "sailing"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sailing" is /ˈseɪ.lɪŋ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "sailing"?
From Middle English saylinge, seilinge, variants of sailende, seilende; equivalent to sail + -ing. Cognate with Dutch zeilend (“sailing”). 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 "sailing", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

slipped#7,286Stevens#7,293propose#7,269praying#7,265

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

successor10 variantspirates10 variantsAbraham10 variantsarchive10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list