telling

/ˈtɛlɪŋ/

//ˈtɛlɪŋ// verb

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

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

The verdict

“telling” has 9 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,288. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#1,288
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
16
confusable pairs

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

Corpus desk

Index EN-telling · telling · English

telling · rank #1,288 · 9 variants · 16 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,288
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 16 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH Sunday

Nearest frequency peer: Sunday (-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 “telling”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “telling” 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).

telling vs tiling
71% similar
telling vs testing
71% similar
telling vs texting
71% similar

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

Key facts for telling
PropertyValue
Headwordtelling
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ˈtɛlɪŋ/
Letters7
Frequency rank#1,288
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs16
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “telling”

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).tellinglands 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 “Sunday” (#1,287), “wear” (#1,289), “spring” (#1,286). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “telling” is #1,288. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around telling (IPA /ˈtɛlɪŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #1,288 among 3,151 “T” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of tell".

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for telling, with forms such as "etlling", "telilng", and "teling". 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 16 confusable-pair relationships, "tiling", "testing", "texting", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is telling, spelled T-E-L-L-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of tell

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • etlling
  • telilng
  • teling
  • tellign
  • tellingg
  • tellinng
  • tellnig
  • tleling
  • ttelling

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

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

etlling2telilng2teling1tellign2tellingg1tellinng1tellnig2tleling2
Edit distance from "telling"

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 "telling"?
"telling" is spelled T-E-L-L-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈtɛlɪŋ/.
What does "telling" mean?
As a verb, "telling" means: present participle and gerund of tell
What words are commonly confused with "telling"?
"telling" is commonly confused with "tiling", "testing", "texting". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "telling"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "telling" is /ˈtɛlɪŋ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "telling" come from?
"telling" 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 "telling", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

address#1,291protect#1,283details#1,301imagine#1,272

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

Sunday9 variantssecret9 variantsanyway9 variantsbought9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list