Which to use
“UFO” is a noun and “us” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,539
- “UFO” frequency rank
- #95
- “us” frequency rank
- 15634
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | UFO | us |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Initialism of unidentified flying object; (loosely) an alien spacecraft. | Me and at least one other person, excluding the person(s) being addressed. (exclusive us.) |
Where the eye mixes UFO and us
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: UFO is /ˌjuːɛfˈəʊ/ while us is /əs/. 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
UFO is recorded at frequency rank #15,539, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌjuːɛfˈəʊ/. us is at rank #95, tagged as apron, pronounced /əs/.
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 15634, this pair ranks #462,757 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of UFO vs us
Shared letters: u. Private to "UFO": fo. Private to "us": s.
"UFO" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "us" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "UFO" and "us" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "UFO" or "us"?
What to do next
You've compared "UFO" and "us". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "UFO" 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 #462,757 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "UFO" and "us" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "UAS vs UFO". Nearby pair
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.