upsvsusWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#6,983
“ups” frequency rank
#438
“us” frequency rank
7421
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ups us
Definition Ausdruck der Überraschung uns

Where the eye mixes ups and us

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ups
2 ch
us

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ups is [ʊps] while us is [ʌs]. 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 7421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ups is recorded at frequency rank #6,983, classified as anintj, pronounced [ʊps]. us is at rank #438, tagged as apron, pronounced [ʌs].

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 7421, this pair ranks #1,988,224 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ups vs us

Shared letters: su. Private to "ups": p. Private to "us": -.

"ups" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "us" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ups" and "us" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ups" is an intj and "us" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ups" or "us"?
"us" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #438 in our German list, against #6,983 for "ups". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "ups" and "us". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ups" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "us" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,988,224 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ups" and "us" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "uch vs ups". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list