walking
/ˈwɔː.kɪŋ/
"walking" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“walking” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #1,472. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #1,472
- frequency rank, English
- 1,759
- “W” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - present participle and gerund of walk
Corpus desk
Index EN-walking · walking · English
walking · rank #1,472 · 11 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #1,472
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 11 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,759
- PHOTO-FINISH stars
Nearest frequency peer: stars (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “walking”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- sitting
sitting
98,532 corpus weight
- standing
standing
98,531 corpus weight
- stars
stars
98,530 corpus weight
- walking
walking
98,529 corpus weight
- accept
accept
98,528 corpus weight
- actual
actual
98,527 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “walking” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | walking |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈwɔː.kɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #1,472 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “walking” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around walking (IPA /ˈwɔː.kɪŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #1,472 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Dominant gloss: "present participle and gerund of walk".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for walking, with forms such as "awlking", "wakling", and "walikng". 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, "waving", "waning", "waxing", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English walkynge, walkinge, walkinde, walkende, walkand, walkande, from Old English wealcende (attested as Old English wealcendes), from Proto-Germanic *walkandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *walkaną (“to roll, trample, walk”), equivale… The correct English form is walking, spelled W-A-L-K-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of walk
Etymology
From Middle English walkynge, walkinge, walkinde, walkende, walkand, walkande, from Old English wealcende (attested as Old English wealcendes), from Proto-Germanic *walkandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *walkaną (“to roll, trample, walk”), equivalent to walk + -ing.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- awlking
- wakling
- walikng
- walkign
- walkingg
- walkinng
- walkking
- walknig
- wallking
- wlaking
- wwalking
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of walking - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "walking"?
What does "walking" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "walking"?
How do you pronounce "walking"?
What is the origin of the word "walking"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "walking", 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 (11 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "walking". Here's where to go from here.
- "walking" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "waving". View pair
- 11 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #1,472 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "W" letter cohort. W–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.