Which to use
“sung” is a verb and “sure” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,197
- “sung” frequency rank
- #8,164
- “sure” frequency rank
- 34361
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sung | sure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé de sing. | Féminin singulier de sur : qui a un goût acide et aigrelet. |
Where the eye mixes sung and sure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sung vs sure
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sung is \ˈsʌŋ\ while sure is \syʁ\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34361, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sung is recorded at frequency rank #26,197, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈsʌŋ\. sure is at rank #8,164, tagged as anadj, pronounced \syʁ\.
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 34361, this pair ranks #284,380 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sung vs sure
Shared letters: su. Private to "sung": gn. Private to "sure": er.
"sung" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "sure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sung" for "sure" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sung" vs "sure" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sung" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #284,380 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sung" and "sure" 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 #284,380 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.