writing
writ·ing/ˈɹaɪtɪŋ/noun, verb
writing is spelled W-R-I-T-I-N-G, 2 syllables: writ·ing. The wrong spelling people search most is writting: about 680 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 15 of all searches for the word. Writing is a noun meaning “Graphism of symbols such as letters that express some meaning”. The plural of writing is writings.
How many letters and syllables are in writing?
| Letters | 7: W-R-I-T-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: writ·ing |
| In writing | 117 times per million words; the 904th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, writting, about 680 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell writing?
Writing is spelled W-R-I-T-I-N-G. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 11 of the searches for writing 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 writing?
Writing appears 117 times per million words in written English, the 904th 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 writing?
- /ˈɹaɪtɪŋ/
Writing has 2 syllables, split writ·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-writing.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of writing
- writings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does writing mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Graphism of symbols such as letters that express some meaning.
- 2
Something written, such as a document, article or book.
- 3
The process of representing a language with symbols or letters.
- 4
A work of an author.
Congrats, you did an interesting piece of writing.
- 5
The style of writing of a person.
I can't read your writing.
- 6
Intended for or used in writing.
a writing table
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of write
What are you doing? ― Um, I’m writing. ― You are writing! You are writing a lot!
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Writing in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | écriture , écrit , œuvre |
| German | Schrift , Schriftstück , Schreiben |
| Portuguese | escrita , obra , letra |
| Spanish | escritura, escriptura , escrito, escripto |
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 writing come from?
From Middle English writing, writyng, wryting, wrytyng, from Old English wrīting (“writing”), equivalent to write + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).