matchesvstungTell them apart

Quick tell: matches is a verb, tung is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“matches” is a verb and “tung” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,983
“matches” frequency rank
#40,899
“tung” frequency rank
58882
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature matches tung
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs match von Gewicht, sowohl rein körperlich als auch übertragen; schwer

Letter map: matches vs tung

Shared letters muted; letters that set matches and tung apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. matches runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against tung's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
matches
4 ch
tung

Role in the sentence - matches and tung

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: matches is averb and tunganadjective. On the page they differ by 3 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

matches is recorded at frequency rank #17,983, classified as averb, pronounced […]. tung is at rank #40,899, tagged as anadj, 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 58882, this pair ranks #845,706 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of matches vs tung

Shared letters: t. Private to "matches": acehms. Private to "tung": gnu.

"matches" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "tung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • matches ← amtches · macthes · matcches · matcehs · matchess · matchhes · matchse · mathces
  • tung ← tnug · ttung · tugn · tungg · tunng · utng

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "matches" and "tung" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "matches" is a verb and "tung" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "matches" or "tung"?
"matches" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,983 in our German list, against #40,899 for "tung". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "matches" vs "tung" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "matches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #845,706 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "matches" and "tung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs tung". 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 #845,706 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