winking

noun

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

The verdict

“winking” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #36,397. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#36,397
frequency rank, English
1,759
“W” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
17
confusable pairs

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

Corpus desk

Index EN-winking · winking · English

winking · rank #36,397 · 11 variants · 17 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #36,397
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,759
  • PHOTO-FINISH withering

Nearest frequency peer: withering (+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 “winking”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “winking” 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).

winking vs wiring
71% similar
winking vs wiping
71% similar
winking vs Woking
57% similar

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

Key facts for winking
PropertyValue
Headwordwinking
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters7
Frequency rank#36,397
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs17
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “winking”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).winkinglands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “withering” (#36,398), “Whitmore” (#36,395), “woodpecker” (#36,399). Among 1,759 “W” headwords, “winking” is #36,397. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around winking, anoun. Corpus frequency is #36,397 among 1,759 “W” headwords. Dominant gloss: "The act of someone who winks.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for winking, with forms such as "iwnking", "wikning", and "winikng". 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 17 confusable-pair relationships, "wiring", "wiping", "Woking", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is winking, spelled W-I-N-K-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    The act of someone who winks.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. I have known some happy spirits, who could sit for hours, when no other amusement presented, and talk of the winkings and squintings, they had lately been so eagle-eyed, as to detect between some innocent couple […]
  2. […] Billy didn’t get to see Dresden do one of the most cheerful things a city is capable of doing when the sun goes down, which is to wink its lights on one by one. ¶ There was a broad river to reflect those lights, which would have made their nighttime winkings very pretty indeed.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • iwnking
  • wikning
  • winikng
  • winkign
  • winkingg
  • winkinng
  • winkking
  • winknig
  • winnking
  • wniking
  • wwinking

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of winking - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

iwnking2wikning2winikng2winkign2winkingg1winkinng1winkking1winknig2
Edit distance from "winking"

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 "winking"?
"winking" is spelled W-I-N-K-I-N-G.
What does "winking" mean?
As a noun, "winking" means: The act of someone who winks.
What words are commonly confused with "winking"?
"winking" is commonly confused with "wiring", "wiping", "Woking". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "winking" come from?
"winking" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "winking", 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).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list