Which to use
“une” and “urnes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16
- “une” frequency rank
- #13,084
- “urnes” frequency rank
- 13100
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | une | urnes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chose portant le numéro 1. | Pluriel d’urne. |
Where the eye mixes une and urnes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. une runs 3 letters (VCV) against urnes's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between une and urnes
A purely visual mix-up. une (\yn\) and urnes (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13100, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
une is recorded at frequency rank #16, classified as anoun, pronounced \yn\. urnes is at rank #13,084, 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 13100, this pair ranks #402,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of une vs urnes
Shared letters: enu. Private to "une": -. Private to "urnes": rs.
"une" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "urnes" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- urnes ← unres · urens · urness · urnnes · urnse · urrnes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "une" and "urnes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "une" vs "urnes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "une" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "urnes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,441 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "une" and "urnes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "urée vs urnes". 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 #402,441 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.