lung
/ˈlʌŋ/
"lung" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lung” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,070 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #6,070
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A biological organ of vertebrates that controls breathing and oxygenates the blood.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lung |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlʌŋ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #6,070 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lung” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lung is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlʌŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,070 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for lung, with forms such as "llung", "lnug", and "lugn". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "lux", "luv", "lyn", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English lunge, longe, from Old English lungen, from Proto-Germanic *lunganjō, an enlargement of *lungô (“the light organ, lung”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ-, whence ultimately also light. Cognate with West Frisian long, Dutch long, Germ… The correct English form is lung, spelled L-U-N-G.
Definition
- 1A biological organ of vertebrates that controls breathing and oxygenates the blood.
- 2Capacity for exercise or exertion; breath.
- 3That which supplies oxygen or fresh air, such as trees, parklands, forest, etc., to a place.
Etymology
From Middle English lunge, longe, from Old English lungen, from Proto-Germanic *lunganjō, an enlargement of *lungô (“the light organ, lung”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ-, whence ultimately also light. Cognate with West Frisian long, Dutch long, German Lunge, Danish lunge, Norwegian lunge, Swedish lunga, Icelandic lunga, and also Russian лёгкое (ljóxkoje) (lung), Ancient Greek ἐλαφρός (elaphrós, “light in weight”) and perhaps Albanian lungë (“blister, bulge”). Compare Latin levis and Old English lēoht (Modern English light). See also lights (“lungs”). Superseded non-native Middle English pomoun (“lung”), borrowed from Old French poumon, pomon (“lung”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: llung,lnug,lugn,lungg,lunng,ulng
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lung - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “lung”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-U-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlʌŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lux” - see the side-by-side comparison. lung vs lux
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.