urée vs urs, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“urée” and “urs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,849
“urée” frequency rank: #38,091
“urs” frequency rank: 86940
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	urée	urs
Definition	Substance cristallisable, incolore, de formule chimique COH₄N₂, dont la présence caractérise l’urine de la plupart des animaux dont l’homme.	Ours.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

urée

3 ch

urs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. urée (\y.ʁe\) and urs (\urs\) 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 86940, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

urée is recorded at frequency rank #48,849, classified as anoun, pronounced \y.ʁe\. urs is at rank #38,091, tagged as anoun, pronounced \urs\.

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 86940, this pair ranks #8,964 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of urée vs urs

Shared letters: ru. Private to "urée": eé. Private to "urs": s.

"urée" · 4 letters · shape VCVV · "urs" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequency comparison

urée#48,849

urs#38,091

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "urée" and "urs" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\y.ʁe\ versus \urs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "urée" or "urs"?

"urs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,091 in our French list, against #48,849 for "urée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering urée vs urs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “urée” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable