working
work·ing/ˈwɝkɪŋ/noun, adjective, verb
working is spelled W-O-R-K-I-N-G, 2 syllables: work·ing. The wrong spelling people search most is wokring: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 175 of all searches for the word. Working is a noun meaning “Operation; action”. The plural of working is workings.
How many letters and syllables are in working?
| Letters | 7: W-O-R-K-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: work·ing |
| In writing | 282 times per million words; the 338th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, wokring, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell working?
Working is spelled W-O-R-K-I-N-G. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 117 of the searches for working in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is working?
Working appears 282 times per million words in written English, the 338th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce working?
- UK /ˈwɜːkɪŋ/
- US /ˈwɝkɪŋ/
Working has 2 syllables, split work·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-working.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with working?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as working from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹkɪŋ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of working
- workings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does working mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Operation; action.
- 2
Method of operation.
- 3
The incidental or subsidiary calculations performed in solving an overall problem.
Be sure to check your working.
- 4
Fermentation.
- 5
Becoming full of a vegetable substance.
- 6
A place where work is carried on.
the abandoned mine workings
- 7
A train movement.
adjective
- 1
That is or are functioning.
a working ventilator
- 2
That suffices but requires additional work; provisional.
a working copy of the script
- 3
In paid employment.
Working mothers have recently joined the factory's workforce.
- 4
Of or relating to employment.
the working week
- 5
Enough to allow one to use something.
have a working knowledge of computers
- 6
Used in real life; practical.
The working minimum focus distance is the distance from the closest focusable subject to the lens.
- 7
obsoleteEfficacious.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of work
Leave him alone; he’s working.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate working?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of working: wkg.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Working in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | serviço , funcionamento , funcional |
| French | fonctionnement |
| German | Ansatz |
| Spanish | bosquejado, esbozado |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does working come from?
From Middle English werking, werkynge, warkynge, worchinge, from Old English wyrċing (“working”), verbal noun of wyrċan (“to work”), equivalent to work + -ing. Cognate with Scots wirking, warking, Dutch werking, German Wirkung.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).