Which to use
“undone” is an adjective and “union” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,987
- “undone” frequency rank
- #890
- “union” frequency rank
- 18877
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | undone | union |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not done. | The act of uniting or joining two or more things into one. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set undone and union apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: undone is /ʌnˈdʌn/ while union is /ˈjuː.njən/. 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 18877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
undone is recorded at frequency rank #17,987, classified as anadj, pronounced /ʌnˈdʌn/. union is at rank #890, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈjuː.njən/.
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 18877, this pair ranks #441,992 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of undone vs union
Shared letters: nou. Private to "undone": de. Private to "union": i.
"undone" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "union" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "undone" and "union" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "undone" or "union"?
Remembering undone vs union
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “undone”; for a noun, it's “union”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “undone” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable