utvsytWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ut is a noun, yt is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ut” is a noun and “yt” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,597
“ut” frequency rank
#26,929
“yt” frequency rank
47526
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ut yt
Definition La première note de l’échelle des sons. Ton, ta, tes.

Same sound, different letters: ut vs yt

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 1 letter. ut and yt follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

2 ch
ut
2 ch
yt

Ear matches; page differs - ut and yt

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ut and yt carry the same recorded pronunciation, \yt\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other apronoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - u in “ut” becomes y in “yt”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ut is recorded at frequency rank #20,597, classified as anoun, pronounced \yt\. yt is at rank #26,929, tagged as apron, pronounced \yt\.

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 47526, this pair ranks #186,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ut vs yt

Shared letters: t. Private to "ut": u. Private to "yt": y.

"ut" · 2 letters · shape VC  ·  "yt" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ut" for "yt" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ut" is a noun and "yt" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "ut" or "yt" show up more?
"ut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,597 in our French list, against #26,929 for "yt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "yt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #186,268 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ut" and "yt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "yt vs yum". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #186,268 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list