shunningvsstuntingWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“shunning” and “stunting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,776
“shunning” frequency rank
#46,202
“stunting” frequency rank
92978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature shunning stunting
Definition present participle and gerund of shun present participle and gerund of stunt

Where the eye mixes shunning and stunting

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. shunning and stunting follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
shunning
8 ch
stunting

Look-alike desk: shunning vs stunting

A purely visual mix-up. shunning (/ˈʃʌnɪŋ/) and stunting (/ˈstʌntɪŋ/) 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 92978, 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/. stunting is at rank #46,202, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈstʌntɪŋ/.

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 92978, this pair ranks #2,209 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of shunning vs stunting

Shared letters: ginsu. Private to "shunning": h. Private to "stunting": t.

"shunning" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC  ·  "stunting" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • shunninghsunning · shhunning · shnuning · shuning · shuninng · shunnign · shunningg · shunninng
  • stuntingsstunting · stnuting · sttunting · stunitng · stunnting · stuntign · stuntingg · stuntinng

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "shunning" and "stunting" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈʃʌnɪŋ/ versus /ˈstʌntɪŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "shunning" or "stunting"?
"stunting" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46,202 in our English list, against #46,776 for "shunning". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "shunning" and "stunting" 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 "stunting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,209 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "shunning" and "stunting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stunting vs suiting". 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 #2,209 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list