unovsurnaTell them apart

Quick tell: uno is a num, urna is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“uno” is a num and “urna” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#77
“uno” frequency rank
#15,245
“urna” frequency rank
15322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature uno urna
Definition La cantidad de una cosa solitaria (a saber, sin otros). Tipo de vasija o caja especial destinada a guardar objetos de valor o las cenizas de los muertos (urna funeraria).

Where the eye mixes uno and urna

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
uno
4 ch
urna

Visual trap between uno and urna

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: uno is [ˈuno] while urna is [ˈuɾna]. 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 (num vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

uno is recorded at frequency rank #77, classified as anum, pronounced [ˈuno]. urna is at rank #15,245, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈuɾna].

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 15322, this pair ranks #280,638 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of uno vs urna

Shared letters: nu. Private to "uno": o. Private to "urna": ar.

"uno" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "urna" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • urnaunra · uran · urnna · urrna

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "uno" and "urna" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "uno" is a num and "urna" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "uno" or "urna" show up more?
"uno" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #77 in our Spanish list, against #15,245 for "urna". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "uno" and "urna" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "uno" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "urna" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #280,638 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "uno" and "urna" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "urea vs urna". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #280,638 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list