Which to use
“sprang” and “sprung” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,913
- “sprang” frequency rank
- #17,036
- “sprung” frequency rank
- 41949
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sprang | sprung |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of spring | simple past and past participle of spring |
Where the eye mixes sprang and sprung
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sprang and sprung follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: sprang vs sprung
A purely visual mix-up. sprang (/ˈspɹæŋ/) and sprung (/spɹʌŋ/) 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 a single letter - a in “sprang” becomes u in “sprung”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sprang is recorded at frequency rank #24,913, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈspɹæŋ/. sprung is at rank #17,036, tagged as averb, pronounced /spɹʌŋ/.
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 41949, this pair ranks #253,699 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sprang vs sprung
Shared letters: gnprs. Private to "sprang": a. Private to "sprung": u.
"sprang" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC · "sprung" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sprang" and "sprung" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "sprang" vs "sprung" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sprang" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sprung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #253,699 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sprang" and "sprung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saran vs sprang". 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 #253,699 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.