starting
/ˈstɑɹtɪŋ/
"starting" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“starting” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #915 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #915
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of start
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 | starting |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈstɑɹtɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #915 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “starting” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for starting is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈstɑɹtɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #915 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "present participle and gerund of start".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for starting, with forms such as "satrting", "sstarting", and "staritng". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "string", "staying", "stating", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is starting, spelled S-T-A-R-T-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of start
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: satrting,sstarting,staritng,starrting,startign,startingg,startinng,startnig,startting,statring,strating,sttarting,tsarting
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of starting - 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 “starting”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-T-A-R-T-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈstɑɹtɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “string” - see the side-by-side comparison. starting vs string
- 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.