bungvsbuntWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“bung” and “bunt” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,104
“bung” frequency rank
#36,058
“bunt” frequency rank
84162
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bung bunt
Definition A stopper, alternative to a cork, often made of rubber, used to prevent fluid passing through the neck of a bottle, vat, a hole in a vessel etc. The middle part, cavity, or belly of a sail; the part of a furled sail which is at the center of the yard.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
bung
4 ch
bunt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. bung (/ˈbʌŋ/) and bunt (/bʌnt/) 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 a single letter - g in “bung” becomes t in “bunt”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bung is recorded at frequency rank #48,104, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbʌŋ/. bunt is at rank #36,058, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bʌnt/.

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 84162, this pair ranks #12,538 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bung vs bunt

Shared letters: bnu. Private to "bung": g. Private to "bunt": t.

"bung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bunt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bungbbung · bnug · bugn · bungg · bunng · ubng
  • buntbbunt · bnut · bunnt · buntt · butn · ubnt

Frequency comparison

bung#48,104
bunt#36,058

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bung" and "bunt" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbʌŋ/ versus /bʌnt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bung" or "bunt"?
"bunt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,058 in our English list, against #48,104 for "bung". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bung vs bunt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bung” 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