unsvsurnaWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#39,514
“uns” frequency rank
#15,245
“urna” frequency rank
54759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature uns urna
Definition Forma del acusativo de wir. Tipo de vasija o caja especial destinada a guardar objetos de valor o las cenizas de los muertos (urna funeraria).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set uns and urna apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
uns
4 ch
urna

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: uns is /ʊns/ 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 (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

uns is recorded at frequency rank #39,514, classified as apron, pronounced /ʊns/. 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 54759, this pair ranks #81,904 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of uns vs urna

Shared letters: nu. Private to "uns": s. Private to "urna": ar.

"uns" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "urna" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • urnaunra · uran · urnna · urrna

Frequency comparison

uns#39,514
urna#15,245

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "uns" and "urna" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "uns" is a pronoun and "urna" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "uns" or "urna"?
"urna" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,245 in our Spanish list, against #39,514 for "uns". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering uns vs urna

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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