What is a pung, and how is it different from a chow?

A pung is a set of three identical tiles, for example three 5-Bamboo or three East Wind tiles. A chow is a set of three consecutive number tiles from the same suit, for example 3-4-5 of Characters. Pungs can be formed with any tile type including honors, while chows can only be formed with number suit tiles. Pungs are generally harder to complete and carry more scoring potential in certain hands.