stung

/stʌŋ/

//stʌŋ// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"stung" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“stung” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #20,239. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20,239
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - simple past and past participle of sting

Corpus desk

Index EN-stung · stung · English

stung · rank #20,239 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #20,239
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH suppressing

Nearest frequency peer: suppressing (+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.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “stung”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “stung” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

stung vs sun
60% similar
stung vs sung
80% similar
stung vs sunk
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for stung
PropertyValue
Headwordstung
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/stʌŋ/
Letters5
Frequency rank#20,239
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “stung”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).stunglands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “suppressing” (#20,240), “stoner” (#20,237), “swimsuit” (#20,241). Among 6,566 “S” headwords, “stung” is #20,239. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around stung (IPA /stʌŋ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #20,239 among 6,566 “S” headwords. Dominant gloss: "simple past and past participle of sting".

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for stung, with forms such as "sstung", "stnug", and "sttung". 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, "sun", "sung", "sunk", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is stung, spelled S-T-U-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of sting

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • sstung
  • stnug
  • sttung
  • stugn
  • stungg
  • stunng
  • sutng
  • tsung

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of stung - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

sstung1stnug2sttung1stugn2stungg1stunng1sutng2tsung2
Edit distance from "stung"

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

How do you spell "stung"?
"stung" is spelled S-T-U-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is /stʌŋ/.
What does "stung" mean?
As a verb, "stung" means: simple past and past participle of sting
What words are commonly confused with "stung"?
"stung" is commonly confused with "sun", "sung", "sunk". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "stung"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "stung" is /stʌŋ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "stung" come from?
"stung" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "stung", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sinus#20,225waldo#20,263whine#20,267Rhine#20,210

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

squire8 variantsTacoma8 variantssolace8 variantsshabby8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list