Which to use
“tun” is a noun and “tus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,414
- “tun” frequency rank
- #40,544
- “tus” frequency rank
- 89958
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tun | tus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Craie glauconieuse. | Masculin pluriel de tu. |
Where the eye mixes tun and tus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tun and tus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses tun with tus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tun is \tyn\ while tus is \ty\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “tun” becomes s in “tus”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89958, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tun is recorded at frequency rank #49,414, classified as anoun, pronounced \tyn\. tus is at rank #40,544, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ty\.
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 89958, this pair ranks #5,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tun vs tus
Shared letters: tu. Private to "tun": n. Private to "tus": s.
"tun" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tun" for "tus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tun" vs "tus" - 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 "tun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #5,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tun" and "tus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tun". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #5,264 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.