ugh

\yɡ\

/\yɡ\/ intj

The verdict

“ugh” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #43,199) as an interjection. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#43,199
frequency rank, French
456
“U” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Mot utilisé pour indiquer la sagesse prêtée aux Indiens d’Amérique du Nord, souvent en levant une main, la paume ouverte vers l'avant.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ugh · ugh · French

ugh · rank #43,199 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #43,199
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 456
  • PHOTO-FINISH usuelles

Nearest frequency peer: usuelles (+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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « ugh »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « ugh » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

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).

ugh vs un
33% similar
ugh vs up
33% similar
ugh vs UK
0% similar

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

Key facts for ugh
PropertyValue
Headwordugh
LanguageFrench
Part of speechInterjection
IPA\yɡ\
Letters3
Frequency rank#43,199
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « ugh »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).ughse place ici:

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

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « usuelles » (#43,200), « usurpé » (#43,201), « truchement » (#43,196). Parmi 456 lemmes en « U », « ugh » est au #43,199. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ugh is neighbouring look-alikes ("un", "up", …), not just typos; it is aninterjection pronounced \yɡ\. Frequency #43,199 among 456 “U” headwords. Gloss: "Mot utilisé pour indiquer la sagesse prêtée aux Indiens d’Amérique du Nord, souvent en levant une main, la paume ouverte vers l'avant.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for ugh in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "un", "up", "UK", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is ugh, spelled U-G-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    Mot utilisé pour indiquer la sagesse prêtée aux Indiens d’Amérique du Nord, souvent en levant une main, la paume ouverte vers l'avant.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Dans les sketches qu’il apprend, Armando joue le rôle d’un vieux sage et dit Ugh entre toutes les phrases.

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ugh"?
"ugh" is spelled U-G-H. The IPA pronunciation is \yɡ\.
What does "ugh" mean?
As an interjection, "ugh" means: Mot utilisé pour indiquer la sagesse prêtée aux Indiens d’Amérique du Nord, souvent en levant une main, la paume ouverte vers l'avant.
What words are commonly confused with "ugh"?
"ugh" is commonly confused with "un", "up", "UK". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ugh"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ugh" is \yɡ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ugh" come from?
"ugh" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ugh", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list