fumevsfungWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,384
“fume” frequency rank
#30,806
“fung” frequency rank
76190
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fume fung
Definition A gas or vapour/vapor that is strong-smelling or dangerous to inhale. Fungus.

Letter map: fume vs fung

Shared letters muted; letters that set fume and fung apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. fume (CVCV) and fung (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
fume
4 ch
fung

Corpus notes: fume and fung

fume and fung are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76190, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fume is recorded at frequency rank #45,384, classified as anoun, pronounced /fjuːm/. fung is at rank #30,806, 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 76190, this pair ranks #30,810 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fume vs fung

Shared letters: fu. Private to "fume": em. Private to "fung": gn.

"fume" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fume ← ffume · fmue · fuem · fumme · ufme
  • fung ← ffung · fnug · fugn · fungg · funng · ufng

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fume" and "fung" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "fume" vs "fung" - which ranks higher?
"fung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,806 in our English list, against #45,384 for "fume". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "fume" vs "fung" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fume" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,810 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fume" and "fung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "FOMO vs fume". 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 #30,810 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list