huckvshungWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,431
“huck” frequency rank
#5,052
“hung” frequency rank
43483
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature huck hung
Definition To throw or chuck. simple past and past participle of hang (except when referring to the method of execution; there, hanged is used instead)

Where the eye mixes huck and hung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
huck
4 ch
hung

Visual trap between huck and hung

A purely visual mix-up. huck (/hʌk/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43483, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

huck is recorded at frequency rank #38,431, classified as averb, pronounced /hʌk/. 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 43483, this pair ranks #239,587 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of huck vs hung

Shared letters: hu. Private to "huck": ck. Private to "hung": gn.

"huck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "hung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • huckhcuk · hhuck · hucck · huckk · hukc · uhck
  • hunghhung · hnug · hugn · hungg · hunng · uhng

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "huck" and "hung" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/hʌk/ versus /ˈhʌŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "huck" or "hung"?
"hung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,052 in our English list, against #38,431 for "huck". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "huck" 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 #239,587 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "huck" and "hung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hic vs huck". 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 #239,587 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