uivsunsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ui is a intj, uns is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#13,713
“ui” frequency rank
#85
“uns” frequency rank
13798
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ui uns
Definition Ausdruck des Bestaunens Personalpronomen 1. Person Plural Dativ

Where the eye mixes ui and uns

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

2 ch
ui
3 ch
uns

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ui is [ʊɪ̯] while uns is [ʊns]. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13798, 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]. uns is at rank #85, tagged as apron, pronounced [ʊns].

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 13798, this pair ranks #1,955,624 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ui vs uns

Shared letters: u. Private to "ui": i. Private to "uns": ns.

"ui" · 2 letters · shape VV  ·  "uns" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ui" and "uns" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ui" is an intj and "uns" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ui" or "uns"?
"uns" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #85 in our German list, against #13,713 for "ui". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list