Canoeing is commonly regarded as an outdoor adventure activity conducted on Rivers, Lakes, Canals and the Sea, which involves using a type of canoe. Canoes are normally referred to as open boats and can be punted (using a pole), sailed or lined and tracked using ropes and in some cases are closed-decked. The first types of canoe did not have seats and paddling was done from a kneeled position, unlike today whereby nearly all-recreational canoes have seats or saddles for better control.

Some kayak designs (which are normally thought of as closed-decked) are actually open which makes the definition hard to determine although the most common difference is that a canoe uses a single blade paddle and a kayak uses a double blade paddle.

The word canoeing is used as a generic term in most countries apart from North America where it is specific to canoes and kayaking is normally only referred to in the context of paddling a kayak