tailing

noun

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

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

The verdict

“tailing” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #42,442. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#42,442
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The act of following someone.

Corpus desk

Index EN-tailing · tailing · English

tailing · rank #42,442 · 10 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #42,442
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH tacitly

Nearest frequency peer: tacitly (-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 “tailing”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “tailing” 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).

tailing vs taking
71% similar
tailing vs timing
71% similar
tailing vs taxing
71% similar

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

Key facts for tailing
PropertyValue
Headwordtailing
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#42,442
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “tailing”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).tailinglands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “tacitly” (#42,441), “tailings” (#42,443), “tablecloth” (#42,440). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “tailing” is #42,442. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around tailing, anoun. Corpus frequency is #42,442 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for tailing, with forms such as "atiling", "taiilng", and "tailign". 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, "taking", "timing", "taxing", 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 is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is tailing, spelled T-A-I-L-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of following someone.
  2. 2
    The part of a projecting stone or brick inserted in a wall.
  3. 3
    The lighter parts of grain separated from the seed by threshing and winnowing; chaff.
  4. 4
    A prolongation of current in a telegraph line, due to capacity in the line and causing signals to run together.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how tailing appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. […]iron Bar forming a Tailing for the stones which lie in the doorways

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • atiling
  • taiilng
  • tailign
  • tailingg
  • tailinng
  • tailling
  • tailnig
  • taliing
  • tialing
  • ttailing

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

atiling2taiilng2tailign2tailingg1tailinng1tailling1tailnig2taliing2
Edit distance from "tailing"

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 "tailing"?
"tailing" is spelled T-A-I-L-I-N-G.
What does "tailing" mean?
As a noun, "tailing" means: The act of following someone.
What words are commonly confused with "tailing"?
"tailing" is commonly confused with "taking", "timing", "taxing". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "tailing" come from?
"tailing" 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 "tailing", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

tacitly#42,441thicket#42,448tidying#42,452subplot#42,429

Similar misspelling depth

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

trapeze10 variantssqualor10 variantsunearth10 variantsSolihull10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list