um vs uns, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#49
“um” frequency rank: #85
“uns” frequency rank: 134
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	um	uns
Definition	bezeichnet eine Lage in Bezug zu etwas oder jemanden – wo?	Personalpronomen 1. Person Plural Dativ

Where the eye mixes um and uns

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

2 ch

3 ch

uns

Why the eye confuses um with uns

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: um is [ʊm] 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 (preposition vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

um is recorded at frequency rank #49, classified as aprep, pronounced [ʊm]. 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 134, this pair ranks #2,006,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of um vs uns

Shared letters: u. Private to "um": m. Private to "uns": ns.

"um" · 2 letters · shape VC · "uns" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "um" and "uns" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "um" is a preposition and "uns" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "um" or "uns"?

"um" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #49 in our German list, against #85 for "uns". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "um" and "uns" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "um" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "uns" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #2,006,240 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"um" and "uns" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "uns vs Unze". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,006,240 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.