hungvshurtConfusable pair

Which to use

“hung” and “hurt” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,242
“hung” frequency rank
#43,976
“hurt” frequency rank
79218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hung hurt
Definition Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs hang 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs huren

Letter map: hung vs hurt

Shared letters muted; letters that set hung and hurt apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
hung
4 ch
hurt

Corpus notes: hung and hurt

hung and hurt are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hung is recorded at frequency rank #35,242, classified as averb, pronounced […]. hurt is at rank #43,976, tagged as averb, pronounced [huːɐ̯t].

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 79218, this pair ranks #221,273 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hung vs hurt

Shared letters: hu. Private to "hung": gn. Private to "hurt": rt.

"hung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hurt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hunghhung · hnug · hugn · hungg · hunng · uhng
  • hurthhurt · hrut · hurrt · hurtt · hutr · uhrt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hung" and "hurt" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary German text, does "hung" or "hurt" show up more?
"hung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,242 in our German list, against #43,976 for "hurt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "hung" and "hurt". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hurt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #221,273 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hung" and "hurt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hum vs hurt". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #221,273 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list