washing
/ˈwɒʃ.ɪŋ/
"washing" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“washing” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,850 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #5,850
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The action of the verb to wash
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 | washing |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈwɒʃ.ɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #5,850 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “washing” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for washing is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈwɒʃ.ɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,850 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for washing, with forms such as "awshing", "wahsing", and "washhing". 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 19 confusable-pair relationships, "waving", "waxing", "wasting", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English waschynge, weschynge, from Old English *weasċing, *wæsċing (attested in weasċingweġ), from Proto-West Germanic *waskingu, equivalent to wash + -ing. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Waaskenge (“washing”), West Frisian wasking (“washing”), … The correct English form is washing, spelled W-A-S-H-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1The action of the verb to wash
- 2Clothing, bedlinen or soft furnishings that have been, are currently being, or are to be washed; laundry.
- 3The residue after an ore, etc, has been washed
- 4The liquid used to wash an ore.
- 5A place where a precious metal found in gravel is separated from lighter material by washing.
- 6A thin covering or coat.
- 7A fraudulent transaction in which the same stock is simultaneously bought and sold for the purpose of manipulating the market.
- 8The covering of a piece with an infusible powder, which prevents it from sticking to its supports, while receiving the glaze.
Etymology
From Middle English waschynge, weschynge, from Old English *weasċing, *wæsċing (attested in weasċingweġ), from Proto-West Germanic *waskingu, equivalent to wash + -ing. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Waaskenge (“washing”), West Frisian wasking (“washing”), Dutch wassing (“washing”), German Waschung (“washing”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: awshing,wahsing,washhing,washign,washingg,washinng,washnig,wasihng,wasshing,wsahing,wwashing
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of washing - 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
How do you spell "washing"?
What does "washing" mean?
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Using “washing”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is W-A-S-H-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈwɒʃ.ɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “waving” - see the side-by-side comparison. washing vs waving
- 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.