Which to use
“shun” and “shush” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,359
- “shun” frequency rank
- #39,562
- “shush” frequency rank
- 60921
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shun | shush |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To avoid, especially persistently; ostracize. | To be quiet; to keep quiet. |
Where the eye mixes shun and shush
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. shun runs 4 letters (CCVC) against shush's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between shun and shush
A purely visual mix-up. shun (/ʃʌn/) and shush (/ʃʊʃ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shun is recorded at frequency rank #21,359, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃʌn/. shush is at rank #39,562, tagged as averb, pronounced /ʃʊʃ/.
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 60921, this pair ranks #97,359 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shun vs shush
Shared letters: hsu. Private to "shun": n. Private to "shush": -.
"shun" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "shush" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "shun" for "shush" ever safe?
Which is more common, "shun" or "shush"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "shun" and "shush" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shush" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #97,359 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shun" and "shush" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Shashi vs shush". 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 #97,359 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.