Which to use
“Gunn” is a name and “gunned” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,655
- “Gunn” frequency rank
- #24,774
- “gunned” frequency rank
- 45429
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Gunn | gunned |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A Scottish surname from Old Norse. | simple past and past participle of gun |
Where the eye mixes Gunn and gunned
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Gunn runs 4 letters (CVCC) against gunned's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Gunn with gunned
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gunn is /ɡʌn/ while gunned is /ɡʌnd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Gunn” sits inside “gunned”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45429, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Gunn is recorded at frequency rank #20,655, classified as aname, pronounced /ɡʌn/. gunned is at rank #24,774, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɡʌnd/.
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 45429, this pair ranks #221,335 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Gunn vs gunned
Shared letters: gnu. Private to "Gunn": -. Private to "gunned": de.
"Gunn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "gunned" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Gunn" and "gunned" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "Gunn" or "gunned"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Gunn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gunned" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #221,335 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Gunn" and "gunned" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ginn vs Gunn". 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 #221,335 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.