hingvshungTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,801
“hing” frequency rank
#5,052
“hung” frequency rank
53853
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hing hung
Definition alternative form of hang. simple past and past participle of hang (except when referring to the method of execution; there, hanged is used instead)

Where the eye mixes hing and hung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
hing
4 ch
hung

Why the eye confuses hing with hung

A purely visual mix-up. hing (/hɪŋ/) and hung (/ˈhʌŋ/) 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 - i in “hing” becomes u in “hung”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hing is recorded at frequency rank #48,801, classified as averb, pronounced /hɪŋ/. hung is at rank #5,052, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈhʌŋ/.

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 53853, this pair ranks #145,650 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hing vs hung

Shared letters: ghn. Private to "hing": i. Private to "hung": u.

"hing" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hinghhing · hign · hingg · hinng · hnig · ihng
  • hunghhung · hnug · hugn · hungg · hunng · uhng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hing" for "hung" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/hɪŋ/ versus /ˈhʌŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "hing" vs "hung" - which ranks higher?
"hung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,052 in our English list, against #48,801 for "hing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "hing" and "hung" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #145,650 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hing" and "hung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "HIIT vs hing". 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 #145,650 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