Which to use
“begins” and “begun” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,380
- “begins” frequency rank
- #3,863
- “begun” frequency rank
- 6243
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | begins | begun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of begin | past participle of begin |
Where the eye mixes begins and begun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. begins runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against begun's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: begins vs begun
A purely visual mix-up. begins (/bɪˈɡɪnz/) and begun (/bɪˈɡʌn/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6243, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
begins is recorded at frequency rank #2,380, classified as averb, pronounced /bɪˈɡɪnz/. begun is at rank #3,863, tagged as averb, pronounced /bɪˈɡʌn/.
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 6243, this pair ranks #512,165 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of begins vs begun
Shared letters: begn. Private to "begins": is. Private to "begun": u.
"begins" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "begun" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "begins" for "begun" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "begins" or "begun" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "begins" and "begun" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "begins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "begun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #512,165 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "begins" and "begun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "begun vs bogan". 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 #512,165 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.