Which to use
“shunned” and “sounded” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,206
- “shunned” frequency rank
- #5,918
- “sounded” frequency rank
- 31124
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shunned | sounded |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of shun | simple past and past participle of sound |
Where the eye mixes shunned and sounded
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. shunned (CCVCCVC) and sounded (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses shunned with sounded
A purely visual mix-up. shunned (/ʃʌnd/) and sounded (/ˈsaʊndɪd/) 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 31124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shunned is recorded at frequency rank #25,206, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃʌnd/. sounded is at rank #5,918, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsaʊndɪd/.
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 31124, this pair ranks #348,820 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of shunned vs sounded
Shared letters: densu. Private to "shunned": h. Private to "sounded": o.
"shunned" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "sounded" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shunned" and "sounded" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "shunned" vs "sounded" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "shunned" and "sounded" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shunned" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sounded" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #348,820 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shunned" and "sounded" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shined vs shunned". 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 #348,820 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.