sang · sung The difference in meaning and sound
What they mean
Sang is the simple past: "She sang at the concert." Sung is the past participle, used after have, has or had and in the passive: "She has sung there before," "The song was sung in French."
Real clips from the app. Turn your sound on.
Hear both words in 7 voices
Each row is one speaker saying both words. Play one, then the other, and switch to slow when the difference hides.
- American woman, younger
- American man, younger
- British woman, younger
- British woman, older
- British man, younger
- British man, older
- Australian man
What's different
Like hang and hung, this pair ends in ng, and many American voices raise the æ in front of it, so sang moves toward "seyng". Sung stays on one short, central "uh".
The grammar often gives the answer away. When it can't, as in a quick "I sang" against "I've sung", the 've is easy to miss too, and the vowel is all you have.
Studies: Lambacher et al. 2002 · Lambacher et al. 2005 · Nishi & Kewley-Port 2007
æ (hat) is wide and bright. ʌ (hut) is short and relaxed.
More word pairs with these sounds
Hearing hat and hut apart: all 18 pairs →This collection is free in the app
In the TellApart app, all 18 pairs in this collection are free to practice, with no purchase.
Start hearing the difference.
Free to download, with one purchase to unlock everything. No subscription.