Which to use
“tonne” and “tun” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,248
- “tonne” frequency rank
- #30,265
- “tun” frequency rank
- 52513
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tonne | tun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. | 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.) |
Same sound, different letters: tonne vs tun
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - tonne and tun
This is the hard kind. tonne and tun are pronounced identically (/tʌn/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tonne is recorded at frequency rank #22,248, classified as anoun, pronounced /tʌn/. 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 52513, this pair ranks #156,415 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tonne vs tun
Shared letters: nt. Private to "tonne": eo. Private to "tun": u.
"tonne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tonne ← otnne · tnone · tonen · ttonne
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tonne" and "tun" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "tonne" or "tun" show up more?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "tonne" / "tun". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "tonne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #156,415 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tonne" and "tun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tuft vs tun". 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 #156,415 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.