Which to use
“sing” and “sung” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,371
- “sing” frequency rank
- #26,197
- “sung” frequency rank
- 49568
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sing | sung |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chanter (avec sa voix). | Participe passé de sing. |
Where the eye mixes sing and sung
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sing and sung
A purely visual mix-up. sing (\ˈsɪŋ\) and sung (\ˈsʌŋ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - i in “sing” becomes u in “sung”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sing is recorded at frequency rank #23,371, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈsɪŋ\. sung is at rank #26,197, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈsʌŋ\.
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 49568, this pair ranks #169,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sing vs sung
Shared letters: gns. Private to "sing": i. Private to "sung": u.
"sing" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sing" and "sung" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "sing" or "sung"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sung" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #169,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sing" and "sung" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sung vs suu". 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 #169,575 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.