uh vs ui, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“uh” and “ui” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,258
“uh” frequency rank: #19,875
“ui” frequency rank: 34133
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	uh	ui
Definition	expressa que algo não tem aprovação, é desaprovado, é reprovado, está desagradando	exprime surpresa, admiração, repugnância

Letter map: uh vs ui

Shared letters muted; letters that set uh and ui apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch

Spelling & dictionary notes on uh vs ui

uh and ui are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - h in “uh” becomes i in “ui”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

uh is recorded at frequency rank #14,258, classified as anintj. ui is at rank #19,875, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ˈuj/.

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 34133, this pair ranks #33,219 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of uh vs ui

Shared letters: u. Private to "uh": h. Private to "ui": i.

"uh" · 2 letters · shape VC · "ui" · 2 letters · shape VV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "uh" and "ui" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They differ by a single letter - h in “uh” becomes i in “ui”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "uh" or "ui" show up more?

"uh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,258 in our Portuguese list, against #19,875 for "ui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "uh" vs "ui" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "uh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #33,219 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"uh" and "ui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ú vs ui". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #33,219 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.