kunvskungWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: kun is a preposition, kung is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“kun” is a preposition and “kung” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,882
“kun” frequency rank
#22,408
“kung” frequency rank
58290
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kun kung
Definition mit monarchisches Oberhaupt eines Königreichs; König

Letter map: kun vs kung

Shared letters muted; letters that set kun and kung apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

3 ch
kun
4 ch
kung

Grammar separator: kun vs kung

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: kun is apreposition and kunganoun. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “kun” sits inside “kung”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kun is recorded at frequency rank #35,882, classified as aprep, pronounced [kun]. kung is at rank #22,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 58290, this pair ranks #868,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of kun vs kung

Shared letters: knu. Private to "kun": -. Private to "kung": g.

"kun" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "kung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • kungkkung · knug · kugn · kungg · kunng · ukng

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kun" and "kung" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "kun" is a preposition and "kung" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "kun" or "kung" show up more?
"kung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,408 in our German list, against #35,882 for "kun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "kun" vs "kung" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "kun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "kung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #868,508 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kun" and "kung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Koi vs kun". 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 #868,508 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