uivsuneWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ui is a intj, une is an unknown, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ui” is an intj and “une” is an unknown - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,713
“ui” frequency rank
#14,961
“une” frequency rank
28674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ui une
Definition Ausdruck des Bestaunens Singular Femininum des französischen unbestimmten Artikels un

Where the eye mixes ui and une

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
ui
3 ch
une

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ui is [ʊɪ̯] while une is [yn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs unknown), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ui is recorded at frequency rank #13,713, classified as anintj, pronounced [ʊɪ̯]. une is at rank #14,961, tagged as anunknown, pronounced [yn].

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 28674, this pair ranks #1,780,585 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ui vs une

Shared letters: u. Private to "ui": i. Private to "une": en.

"ui" · 2 letters · shape VV  ·  "une" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ui" and "une" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ui" is an intj and "une" an unknown, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ui" or "une"?
"ui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,713 in our German list, against #14,961 for "une". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list