Which to use
“unía” is a verb and “útil” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,689
- “unía” frequency rank
- #2,279
- “útil” frequency rank
- 26968
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | unía | útil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de unir o de unirse. | Que sirve a un efecto. |
Where the eye mixes unía and útil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. No shared run - shape, not overlap, is the trap.
Why the eye confuses unía with útil
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: unía is [uˈnia] while útil is [ˈut̪il]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26968, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
unía is recorded at frequency rank #24,689, classified as averb, pronounced [uˈnia]. útil is at rank #2,279, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈut̪il].
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 26968, this pair ranks #229,053 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of unía vs útil
Shared letters: none. Private to "unía": anuí. Private to "útil": iltú.
"unía" · 4 letters · shape VCVV · "útil" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "unía" for "útil" ever safe?
Frequency check: "unía" vs "útil" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "unía" and "útil" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "unía" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "útil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,053 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "unía" and "útil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unía vs urea". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #229,053 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.