UOvsusWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#39,629
“UO” frequency rank
#95
“us” frequency rank
39724
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature UO us
Definition Initialism of University of Oregon 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 UO and us apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

2 ch
UO
2 ch
us

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

UO 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 a single letter - o in “UO” becomes s in “us” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

UO is recorded at frequency rank #39,629, classified as aname. 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 39724, this pair ranks #274,113 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

UO#39,629
us#95

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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