uncvsusWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#18,980
“unc” frequency rank
#95
“us” frequency rank
19075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature unc us
Definition Clipping of uncle. Me and at least one other person, excluding the person(s) being addressed. (exclusive us.)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set unc and us apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
unc
2 ch
us

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

unc and us form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

unc is recorded at frequency rank #18,980, classified as anoun, pronounced /ʌŋk/. 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 19075, this pair ranks #440,671 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

unc#18,980
us#95

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "unc" and "us" be used interchangeably?
No, "unc" and "us" 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 unc vs us

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “unc”; for a pronoun, it's “us”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “unc” 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