undvsunsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#3
“und” frequency rank
#85
“uns” frequency rank
88
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature und uns
Definition verbindet allgemein Satzteile und Sätze; kann Satzzeichen (Komma, Semikolon, Punkt, Doppelpunkt, Ausrufezeichen und Fragezeichen) ersetzen, ermöglicht Aufzählung, Beiordnung, Ergänzung, Summierung und Hinzufügung Personalpronomen 1. Person Plural Dativ

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set und and uns apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
und
3 ch
uns

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

und and uns form a confusable pair in the German index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - d in “und” becomes s in “uns” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

und is recorded at frequency rank #3, classified as aconj, pronounced [ʊnt]. 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 88, this pair ranks #2,006,279 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

und#3
uns#85

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "und" and "uns" be used interchangeably?
No, "und" and "uns" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering und vs uns

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a conjunction, it's “und”; for a pronoun, it's “uns”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “und” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list