huitvshungWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: huit is a adjective, hung is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“huit” is an adjective and “hung” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#966
“huit” frequency rank
#34,563
“hung” frequency rank
35529
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature huit hung
Definition Sept plus un, adjectif numéral cardinal correspondant au nombre 8. Prétérit et participe passé du verbe hang (« pendre, suspendre »).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set huit and hung apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
huit
4 ch
hung

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: huit is \ɥit\ while hung is \ˈhʌŋ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35529, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

huit is recorded at frequency rank #966, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɥit\. hung is at rank #34,563, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈhʌŋ\.

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 35529, this pair ranks #276,079 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of huit vs hung

Shared letters: hu. Private to "huit": it. Private to "hung": gn.

"huit" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "hung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • huithhuit · hiut · huitt · huti · uhit
  • hunghhung · hnug · hugn · hungg · hunng · uhng

Frequency comparison

huit#966
hung#34,563

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "huit" and "hung" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "huit" is an adjective and "hung" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "huit" or "hung"?
"huit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #966 in our French list, against #34,563 for "hung". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering huit vs hung

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “huit”; for a verb, it's “hung”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “huit” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list