givingvsgoingWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: giving is a verb, going is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“giving” is a verb and “going” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,944
“giving” frequency rank
#16,075
“going” frequency rank
59019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature giving going
Definition gerúndio do verbo give progresso; seguimento; continuidade

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set giving and going apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
giving
5 ch
going

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: giving is averb and goinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

giving is recorded at frequency rank #42,944, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɡɪvɪŋ/. going is at rank #16,075, tagged as anoun.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 59019, this pair ranks #8,416 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of giving vs going

Shared letters: gin. Private to "giving": v. Private to "going": o.

"giving" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "going" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • givingggiving · giivng · givign · givingg · givinng · givnig · givving · gviing
  • goingggoing · giong · goign · goingg · goinng · gonig · oging

Frequency comparison

giving#42,944
going#16,075

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "giving" and "going" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "giving" is a verb and "going" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "giving" or "going"?
"going" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,075 in our Portuguese list, against #42,944 for "giving". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering giving vs going

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “giving”; for a noun, it's “going”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “giving” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list