Which to use
“urne” and “urs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,765
- “urne” frequency rank
- #38,091
- “urs” frequency rank
- 54856
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | urne | urs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vase de forme et de capacité variables qui, chez les anciens, servait à divers usages. | Ours. |
Where the eye mixes urne and urs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. urne runs 4 letters (VCCV) against urs's 3 (VCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between urne and urs
A purely visual mix-up. urne (\yʁn\) 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 54856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
urne is recorded at frequency rank #16,765, classified as anoun, pronounced \yʁn\. 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 54856, this pair ranks #131,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of urne vs urs
Shared letters: ru. Private to "urne": en. Private to "urs": s.
"urne" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "urs" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- urne ← unre · uren · urnne · urrne
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "urne" and "urs" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "urne" or "urs"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "urne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "urs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #131,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "urne" and "urs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ubu vs urs". 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 #131,224 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.