waiting
/ˈweɪtɪŋ/
"waiting" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“waiting” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #938. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #938
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of wait
Corpus desk
Index EN-waiting · waiting · English
waiting · rank #938 · 10 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-CORE #938
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 10 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH v
Nearest frequency peer: v (-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 “waiting”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- success
success
99,066 corpus weight
- towards
towards
99,065 corpus weight
- v
v
99,064 corpus weight
- waiting
waiting
99,063 corpus weight
- ways
ways
99,062 corpus weight
- access
access
99,061 corpus weight
What this shows “waiting” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | waiting |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈweɪtɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #938 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “waiting”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 10 spelling variants around waiting (IPA /ˈweɪtɪŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #938 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of wait".
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for waiting, with forms such as "awiting", "waiitng", and "waitign". 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, "waking", "waving", "wiring", 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 waitinge, waytynge, waitende, weytende, waitand, waytand, equivalent to wait + -ing. The correct English form is waiting, spelled W-A-I-T-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of wait
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how waiting appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Your guest has been waiting for you. (progressive) They hurried into the waiting car. (participle used as adjective)
At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.
Etymology
From Middle English waitinge, waytynge, waitende, weytende, waitand, waytand, equivalent to wait + -ing.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- awiting
- waiitng
- waitign
- waitingg
- waitinng
- waitnig
- waitting
- watiing
- wiating
- wwaiting
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of waiting - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "waiting", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).