Which to use
“rung” and “rusk” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,497
- “rung” frequency rank
- #41,865
- “rusk” frequency rank
- 64362
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rung | rusk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A crosspiece forming a step of a ladder; a round. | a rectangular, hard, dry biscuit |
Where the eye mixes rung and rusk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: rung vs rusk
A purely visual mix-up. rung (/ɹʌŋ/) and rusk (/ɹʌsk/) 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 64362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rung is recorded at frequency rank #22,497, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹʌŋ/. rusk is at rank #41,865, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹʌsk/.
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 64362, this pair ranks #78,135 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of rung vs rusk
Shared letters: ru. Private to "rung": gn. Private to "rusk": ks.
"rung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "rusk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rung" for "rusk" ever safe?
Frequency check: "rung" vs "rusk" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "rung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rusk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #78,135 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rung" and "rusk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Rua vs rusk". 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 #78,135 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.