unvsuxWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: un is a adjective, ux is a typographic variant, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“un” is an adjective and “ux” is a typographic variant - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12
“un” frequency rank
#28,392
“ux” frequency rank
28404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature un ux
Definition Marque l’unité, le fait qu’une personne ou une chose est seule, unique en son espèce. Orthographe par contrainte typographique par système x de ŭ.

Where the eye mixes un and ux

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
un
2 ch
ux

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: un is \œ̃\ while ux is \wo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “un” becomes x in “ux”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs typographic variant), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

un is recorded at frequency rank #12, classified as anadj, pronounced \œ̃\. ux is at rank #28,392, tagged as atypographic variant, pronounced \wo\.

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 28404, this pair ranks #323,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of un vs ux

Shared letters: u. Private to "un": n. Private to "ux": x.

"un" · 2 letters · shape VC  ·  "ux" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "un" and "ux" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "un" is an adjective and "ux" a typographic variant, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "un" or "ux"?
"un" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12 in our French list, against #28,392 for "ux". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "un" and "ux". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "un" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "un" and "ux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ubu vs ux". Nearby pair

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list