tunvstuyaTell them apart

Quick tell: tun is a verb, tuya is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tun” is a verb and “tuya” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,821
“tun” frequency rank
#2,850
“tuya” frequency rank
37671
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tun tuya
Definition Pasar, (acaecer). Árbol de la familia de los cipreses (Cupressaceae) en ser de figura piramidal y tener las hojas siempre verdes.

Where the eye mixes tun and tuya

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
tun
4 ch
tuya

Look-alike desk: tun vs tuya

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tun is [ˈtuːn] while tuya is [ˈt̪uʝa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37671, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tun is recorded at frequency rank #34,821, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈtuːn]. tuya is at rank #2,850, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt̪uʝa].

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 37671, this pair ranks #174,082 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tun vs tuya

Shared letters: tu. Private to "tun": n. Private to "tuya": ay.

"tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tuya" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tuyattuya · tuay · tuyya · tyua · utya

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tun" and "tuya" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tun" is a verb and "tuya" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "tun" or "tuya" show up more?
"tuya" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,850 in our Spanish list, against #34,821 for "tun". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "tun" and "tuya" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tuya" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #174,082 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tun" and "tuya" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tul vs tun". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #174,082 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list