un

[ũn]

/[ũn]/ article

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“un” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #10) as an article. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#10
frequency rank, Spanish
448
“U” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Artículo indeterminado masculino singular.

Corpus desk

Index ES-un · un · Spanish

un · rank #10 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #10
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 448
  • PHOTO-FINISH no

Nearest frequency peer: no (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “un”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “un” sits against the nearest ranked Spanish headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

un vs us
50% similar
un vs up
50% similar
un vs ur
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for un
PropertyValue
Headwordun
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechArticle
IPA[ũn]
Letters2
Frequency rank#10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Dónde se sitúa “un” en la frecuencia del español

De izquierda a derecha: las pocas palabras que cargan el habla diaria, luego la cola larga casi invisible.uncae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Los ticks avanzan en logaritmo; cada uno es del orden de diez veces más raro. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “no” (#9), “se” (#11), “los” (#8). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for un is neighbouring look-alikes ("us", "up", …), not just typos; it is anarticle pronounced [ũn]. Frequency #10 among 448 “U” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for un, a sign its spelling follows regular Spanish conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "us", "up", "ur", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct Spanish form is un, spelled U-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Artículo indeterminado masculino singular.
  2. 2
    Algún (apócope de alguno, indicando indeterminación).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how un appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Pide un deseo.
  2. Un día te visitaré.

This word in other languages

un(Français)ein(Deutsch)um(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "un"?
"un" is spelled U-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ũn].
What does "un" mean?
As an article, "un" means: Artículo indeterminado masculino singular.
What words are commonly confused with "un"?
"un" is commonly confused with "us", "up", "ur". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "un"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "un" is [ũn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "un" come from?
"un" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

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PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list