jungvsjunkWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: jung is a adjective, junk is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“jung” is an adjective and “junk” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,700
“jung” frequency rank
#46,765
“junk” frequency rank
48465
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jung junk
Definition niedrigen Alters alte oder minderwertige, nutzlose, wertlose Dinge

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set jung and junk apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
jung
4 ch
junk

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jung is [jʊŋ] while junk is [dʒʌŋk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “jung” becomes k in “junk”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jung is recorded at frequency rank #1,700, classified as anadj, pronounced [jʊŋ]. junk is at rank #46,765, tagged as anoun, pronounced [dʒʌŋk].

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 48465, this pair ranks #1,247,632 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of jung vs junk

Shared letters: jnu. Private to "jung": g. Private to "junk": k.

"jung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "junk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jungjjung · jnug · jugn · jungg · junng · ujng
  • junkjjunk · jnuk · jukn · junkk · junnk · ujnk

Frequency comparison

jung#1,700
junk#46,765

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "jung" and "junk" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "jung" is an adjective and "junk" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "jung" or "junk"?
"jung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,700 in our German list, against #46,765 for "junk". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering jung vs junk

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “jung”; for a noun, it's “junk”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “jung” 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