pun
/pʌn/
"pun" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pun” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #13,993) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #13,993
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pun · pun · English
pun · rank #13,993 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #13,993
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH puff
Nearest frequency peer: puff (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “pun”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- prevail
prevail
86,013 corpus weight
- prevailing
prevailing
86,012 corpus weight
- puff
puff
86,009 corpus weight
- pun
pun
86,008 corpus weight
- rag
rag
86,005 corpus weight
- raj
raj
86,004 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “pun” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | pun |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /pʌn/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #13,993 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pun” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for pun is neighbouring look-alikes ("PV", "PW", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /pʌn/. Frequency #13,993 among 4,417 “P” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for pun, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "PV", "PW", "PX", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ponnen, ponen, punen, from Old English punian, pūnian (“to pound, beat, bray, bruise, crush, grind”), from Proto-Germanic *punōną (“to break to pieces, pulverize”). See pound. As a kind of word play, from the notion of "beating" the word… The correct English form is pun, spelled P-U-N.
Definition
- 1To beat; strike with force; to ram; to pound, as in a mortar; reduce to powder, to pulverize.
- 2To make or tell a pun; to make a play on words.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pun appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He would pun thee into shivers with his fist.
We punned about the topic until all around us groaned.
Etymology
From Middle English ponnen, ponen, punen, from Old English punian, pūnian (“to pound, beat, bray, bruise, crush, grind”), from Proto-Germanic *punōną (“to break to pieces, pulverize”). See pound. As a kind of word play, from the notion of "beating" the words into place.
This word in other languages
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pun", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "pun". Here's where to go from here.
- "pun" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "PV". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #13,993 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "P" letter cohort. P–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.