Which to use
“then” is an adverb and “tun” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #91
- “then” frequency rank
- #30,265
- “tun” frequency rank
- 30356
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | then | tun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | At that time. | A large cask; an oblong vessel bulging in the middle, like a pipe or puncheon, and girt with hoops; a wine cask. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.) |
Where the eye mixes then and tun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: then is /ðɛn/ while tun is /tʌn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30356, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
then is recorded at frequency rank #91, classified as anadv, pronounced /ðɛn/. tun is at rank #30,265, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tʌn/.
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 30356, this pair ranks #355,213 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of then vs tun
Shared letters: nt. Private to "then": eh. Private to "tun": u.
"then" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- then ← hten · tehn · thenn · thhen · thne · tthen