stunvssungWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#17,969
“stun” frequency rank
#8,213
“sung” frequency rank
26182
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature stun sung
Definition To incapacitate; especially by inducing disorientation or unconsciousness. past participle of sing

Where the eye mixes stun and sung

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
stun
4 ch
sung

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. stun (/stʌn/) and sung (/sʌŋ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

stun is recorded at frequency rank #17,969, classified as averb, pronounced /stʌn/. sung is at rank #8,213, tagged as averb, pronounced /sʌŋ/.

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 26182, this pair ranks #388,604 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of stun vs sung

Shared letters: nsu. Private to "stun": t. Private to "sung": g.

"stun" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "sung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • stunsstun · stnu · sttun · stunn · sutn · tsun
  • sungssung · sugn · sungg · sunng · usng

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "stun" and "sung" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/stʌn/ versus /sʌŋ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "stun" or "sung"?
"sung" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,213 in our English list, against #17,969 for "stun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "stun" and "sung". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "stun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "sung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #388,604 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "stun" and "sung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stun vs Styx". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list