tungvstuskTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#40,899
“tung” frequency rank
#29,824
“tusk” frequency rank
70723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tung tusk
Definition von Gewicht, sowohl rein körperlich als auch übertragen; schwer Stoßzahn; sehr langer und spitzer Zahn, der aus dem Maul des Tieres herausragt und meist paarweise vorkommt, aber auch einzeln (zum Beispiel beim Narwal)

Letter map: tung vs tusk

Shared letters muted; letters that set tung and tusk apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
tung
4 ch
tusk

Part-of-speech tell for tung / tusk

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tung is anadjective and tuskanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tung is recorded at frequency rank #40,899, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. tusk is at rank #29,824, 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 70723, this pair ranks #437,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tung vs tusk

Shared letters: tu. Private to "tung": gn. Private to "tusk": ks.

"tung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "tusk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tungtnug · ttung · tugn · tungg · tunng · utng
  • tusktsuk · ttusk · tuks · tuskk · tussk · utsk

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tung" and "tusk" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tung" is an adjective and "tusk" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tung" or "tusk"?
"tusk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,824 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.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "tung" and "tusk".

  • Full dictionary entry for "tung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tusk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #437,734 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tung" and "tusk" 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 #437,734 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