uraltvsUranTell them apart

Quick tell: uralt is a adjective, Uran is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“uralt” is an adjective and “Uran” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,208
“uralt” frequency rank
#18,738
“Uran” frequency rank
44946
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature uralt Uran
Definition sehr alt chemisches Element mit der Ordnungszahl 92; silberweißes, weiches, schwach radioaktives Schwermetall

Where the eye mixes uralt and Uran

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
uralt
4 ch
Uran

Visual trap between uralt and Uran

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: uralt is [ˈuːɐ̯ˌʔalt] while Uran is [uˈʁaːn]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

uralt is recorded at frequency rank #26,208, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈuːɐ̯ˌʔalt]. Uran is at rank #18,738, tagged as anoun, pronounced [uˈʁaːn].

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 44946, this pair ranks #1,369,470 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of uralt vs Uran

Shared letters: aru. Private to "uralt": lt. Private to "Uran": n.

"uralt" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC  ·  "Uran" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • uraltrualt · uarlt · urallt · uraltt · uratl · urlat · urralt
  • Uranruan · uarn · urann · urna · urran

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "uralt" and "Uran" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "uralt" is an adjective and "Uran" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "uralt" or "Uran" show up more?
"Uran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,738 in our German list, against #26,208 for "uralt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "uralt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Uran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,369,470 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "uralt" and "Uran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ural vs uralt". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,369,470 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list