slungvsslushWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: slung is a verb, slush is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“slung” is a verb and “slush” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,082
“slung” frequency rank
#29,467
“slush” frequency rank
64549
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature slung slush
Definition simple past and past participle of sling Half-melted snow or ice, generally located on the ground.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set slung and slush apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
slung
5 ch
slush

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: slung is /ˈslʌŋ/ while slush is /slʌʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64549, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

slung is recorded at frequency rank #35,082, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈslʌŋ/. slush is at rank #29,467, tagged as anoun, pronounced /slʌʃ/.

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 64549, this pair ranks #77,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of slung vs slush

Shared letters: lsu. Private to "slung": gn. Private to "slush": h.

"slung" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "slush" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • slunglsung · sllung · slnug · slugn · slungg · slunng · sslung · sulng
  • slushlsush · sllush · slsuh · sluhs · slushh · slussh · sslush · sulsh

Frequency comparison

slung#35,082
slush#29,467

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "slung" and "slush" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "slung" is a verb and "slush" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "slung" or "slush"?
"slush" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,467 in our English list, against #35,082 for "slung". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering slung vs slush

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “slung”; for a noun, it's “slush”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “slung” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list