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'Lightening' means making lighter in colour or weight (the -ing form of lighten); 'lightning' is the electrical discharge in a storm.
Side-by-side comparison
"Lightening" (with 'e') is the gerund of "lighten": the process of making something lighter in colour or weight. "Lightening her hair" = making her hair a lighter colour.
She spent the afternoon lightening the colour of the living room walls with a pale grey.
Lightening the team's workload before the peak season helped reduce burnout significantly.
The new policy involved lightening border controls for pre-approved commercial trucks.
"Lightning" (no 'e') is the electrical flash in the sky during a storm. "Lightning speed" = extremely fast. "Struck by lightning" = hit by a bolt of electricity.
The lightning struck the oak tree, splitting it cleanly down the centre.
With lightning speed, she caught the falling vase before it hit the floor.
The lightning bolt lit up the entire valley for a brief, blinding second.
Common mistake
- •"There was lightening in the sky" when referring to lightning bolts is wrong: the electrical flash is "lightning".
- •"Lightening" (with E) is the -ing form of the verb "lighten" (to make lighter or brighter).
Trick to remember it
- •"Lightening" contains "lighten" + ING: it is the verb form.
- •"Lightning" has no E after LIGHT: it arrives too fast to add an extra letter.
Quick rule
- •Is it the -ing form of the verb lighten? "Lightening".
- •Is it the electrical flash or the adjective for very fast? "Lightning".
Did you know?
Lightning reaches temperatures of about 30,000 Kelvin, five times hotter than the surface of the sun. "Lightning never strikes twice in the same place" is a classic myth: the opposite is true for tall structures like lightning rods, which attract repeated strikes by design (Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod in 1752). The lightening/lightning confusion is so common on social media during storms that "lightening in the sky" has become one of the most corrected phrases in weather posts, and sometimes the correction is not needed, because "the sky was lightening" (the sky was growing brighter with each flash) is in fact grammatically correct.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
The storm brought thunder and _____ . We could see the sky light up.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
She used a _____ cream on her skin to reduce dark spots.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
One means to receive or agree to something, the other means to exclude or not include.
'Advice' is the guidance you receive (noun); 'advise' is the act of giving that guidance (verb).
'Affect' is the verb meaning to influence something; 'effect' is the noun meaning result or consequence.
'Aisle' is the walkway between rows of seats or shelves; 'isle' is a small island.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy