Which to use
“une” and “urne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16
- “une” frequency rank
- #16,765
- “urne” frequency rank
- 16781
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | une | urne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chose portant le numéro 1. | Vase de forme et de capacité variables qui, chez les anciens, servait à divers usages. |
Where the eye mixes une and urne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: une vs urne
A purely visual mix-up. une (\yn\) and urne (\yʁn\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16781, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
une is recorded at frequency rank #16, classified as anoun, pronounced \yn\. urne is at rank #16,765, tagged as anoun, pronounced \yʁn\.
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 16781, this pair ranks #386,266 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of une vs urne
Shared letters: enu. Private to "une": -. Private to "urne": r.
"une" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "urne" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- urne ← unre · uren · urnne · urrne
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "une" for "urne" ever safe?
Which is more common, "une" or "urne"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "une" and "urne" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "une" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "urne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #386,266 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "une" and "urne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "urée vs urne". 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 #386,266 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.