Which to use
“tui” and “tun” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,658
- “tui” frequency rank
- #30,265
- “tun” frequency rank
- 68923
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tui | tun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A species of honeyeater, Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae, a bird which is endemic to New Zealand. | 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 tui and tun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: tui vs tun
A purely visual mix-up. tui (/ˈtʉi/) and tun (/tʌn/) 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 - i in “tui” becomes n in “tun”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68923, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tui is recorded at frequency rank #38,658, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtʉi/. 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 68923, this pair ranks #56,800 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tui vs tun
Shared letters: tu. Private to "tui": i. Private to "tun": n.
"tui" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tui" and "tun" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "tui" or "tun" show up more?
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 "tui" 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 #56,800 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tui" and "tun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tuft vs tui". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #56,800 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.