Which to use
“shunning” and “shutting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,776
- “shunning” frequency rank
- #11,116
- “shutting” frequency rank
- 57892
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | shunning | shutting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of shun | present participle and gerund of shut |
Where the eye mixes shunning and shutting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. shunning and shutting follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses shunning with shutting
A purely visual mix-up. shunning (/ˈʃʌnɪŋ/) and shutting (/ˈʃʌtɪŋ/) 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 57892, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
shunning is recorded at frequency rank #46,776, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈʃʌnɪŋ/. shutting is at rank #11,116, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈʃʌtɪŋ/.
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 57892, this pair ranks #116,214 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of shunning vs shutting
Shared letters: ghinsu. Private to "shunning": -. Private to "shutting": t.
"shunning" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC · "shutting" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "shunning" and "shutting" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "shunning" or "shutting" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "shunning" and "shutting" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "shunning" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "shutting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #116,214 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "shunning" and "shutting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "shunning vs stunting". 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 #116,214 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.