Which to use
“clung” is a verb and “cuny” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,599
- “clung” frequency rank
- #49,272
- “cuny” frequency rank
- 78871
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clung | cuny |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of cling | An ordinary seaman. |
Letter map: clung vs cuny
Shared letters muted; letters that set clung and cuny apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. clung runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against cuny's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: clung vs cuny
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: clung is averb and cunyanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clung is recorded at frequency rank #29,599, classified as averb, pronounced /klʌŋ/. cuny is at rank #49,272, tagged as anoun.
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 78871, this pair ranks #23,568 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clung vs cuny
Shared letters: cnu. Private to "clung": gl. Private to "cuny": y.
"clung" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "cuny" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "clung" for "cuny" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "clung" or "cuny" show up more?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "clung" and "cuny".
- Full dictionary entry for "clung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cuny" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,568 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clung" and "cuny" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cubby vs cuny". 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 #23,568 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.