Which to use
“urn” is a noun and “us” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,404
- “urn” frequency rank
- #95
- “us” frequency rank
- 21499
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | urn | us |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A vase with a footed base. | Me and at least one other person, excluding the person(s) being addressed. (exclusive us.) |
Where the eye mixes urn and us
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses urn with us
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: urn is /ɜːn/ 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 21499, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
urn is recorded at frequency rank #21,404, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɜːn/. 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 21499, this pair ranks #423,474 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of urn vs us
Shared letters: u. Private to "urn": nr. Private to "us": s.
"urn" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "us" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "urn" for "us" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "urn" or "us" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "urn" and "us" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "urn" 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 #423,474 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "urn" and "us" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "UAS vs urn". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #423,474 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.