Believing is an action, its an verb.
You're trying to equivocate.
Scripture defines a work as something one does to merit one's salvation.
Paul says it's NOT of works, but of grace through faith.
Believing is NOT a work. It is a recognition in one's heart that one cannot work one's way to heaven.
To use an analogy: Works are like climbing a rope to get to heaven. Believing/having faith is akin to letting go of the rope and letting Christ carry you.
False.
Now if a person says they get saved because they believed, an act they performed, by default they are saved by their work, and because that work got them saved, it was a meritorious work.
Believing is NOT a work. It is a recognition in one's heart that one cannot work one's way to heaven. Therefore, if someone says they got saved because they believed, it's not because their belief merited their salvation, it's simply because, as scripture says, it is by grace THROUGH faith one is saved, and NOT of works. If faith was a work, Paul wouldn't have been able to say "not of works," because it is by grace THROUGH faith.
To use an analogy: Works are like climbing a rope to get to heaven. Believing/having faith is akin to letting go of the rope and letting Christ carry you.
Letting go of the rope and letting Christ carry you is NOT continuing to climb the rope.