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PlainSpell

rung

/ˈɹʌŋ/noun, adjective, verb

rung is spelled R-U-N-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,362nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, rung means “A crosspiece forming a step of a ladder; a round” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of rung is rungs.

How many letters and syllables are in rung?

Letters4: R-U-N-G
Syllables1
In writing1.6 times per million words; the 22,362nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is rung?

Rung appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,362nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce rung?

  • /ˈɹʌŋ/
  • /ˈɹɜŋ/
  • Australia /ˈɹɐ̞ŋ/

Rung has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Pvanp7-rung.wav, En-us-rung.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with rung

Sounds like: rng (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with rung?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as rung.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: gurn.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of rung

  • rungs plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does rung mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A crosspiece forming a step of a ladder; a round.

  2. 2

    A crosspiece between legs of a chair.

  3. 3

    A position in a hierarchy.

    the lowest rung of the society

  4. 4

    datedA floor timber in a ship.

  5. 5

    datedOne of the stakes of a cart; a spar; a heavy staff.

  6. 6

    datedOne of the radial handles projecting from the rim of a steering wheel.

  7. 7

    datedOne of the pins or trundles of a lantern wheel.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of a pig: having a ring through the nose.

verb

  1. 1

    past participle of ring (only in senses related to a bell) (a form of ring)

  2. 2

    simple past of ring (a form of ring)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Rung in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbarreau (ladder step), échelon (a position in a hierarchy)
GermanSprosse, Leitersprosse (ladder step), Querstab (crosspiece between chair legs)
Portuguesedegrau (ladder step), travessa (crosspiece between chair legs)
Spanishpeldaño (ladder step), escalón (a position in a hierarchy), travesaño (crosspiece between chair legs)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does rung come from?

From Middle English rung, from Old English hrung, from Proto-West Germanic *hrungu, from Proto-Germanic *hrungō. Cognate with Dutch rong (“pole, stanchion”), German Runge (“stake, pole, stanchion”), Gothic 𐌷𐍂𐌿𐌲𐌲𐌰 (hrugga, “a staff”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after rung