lonevslunWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: lone is a adjective, lun is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“lone” is an adjective and “lun” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,168
“lone” frequency rank
#43,244
“lun” frequency rank
51412
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lone lun
Definition Solitary; having no companion. Alternative form of lown.

Letter map: lone vs lun

Shared letters muted; letters that set lone and lun apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
lone
3 ch
lun

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: lone is anadjective and lunanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51412, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lone is recorded at frequency rank #8,168, classified as anadj, pronounced /ləʊn/. 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 51412, this pair ranks #165,744 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lone vs lun

Shared letters: ln. Private to "lone": eo. Private to "lun": u.

"lone" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "lun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lonellone · lnoe · lonne · olne

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lone" and "lun" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lone" is an adjective and "lun" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "lone" or "lun"?
"lone" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,168 in our English list, against #43,244 for "lun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "lone" and "lun". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lone" 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 #165,744 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lone" 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list