Which to use
“lean” is a verb and “lun” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,705
- “lean” frequency rank
- #43,244
- “lun” frequency rank
- 48949
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lean | lun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To incline, deviate, or bend, from a vertical position; to be in a position thus inclining or deviating. | Alternative form of lown. |
Letter map: lean vs lun
Shared letters muted; letters that set lean and lun apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for lean / lun
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lean is averb and lunanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lean is recorded at frequency rank #5,705, classified as averb, pronounced /liːn/. lun is at rank #43,244, 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 48949, this pair ranks #188,267 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lean vs lun
Shared letters: ln. Private to "lean": ae. Private to "lun": u.
"lean" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lean ← elan · leann · llean
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lean" for "lun" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lean" vs "lun" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "lean" and "lun". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "lean" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #188,267 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lean" and "lun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "LSC vs lun". 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 #188,267 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.