umavsuniWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: uma is a article, uni is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“uma” is an article and “uni” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13
“uma” frequency rank
#18,214
“uni” frequency rank
18227
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature uma uni
Definition feminino de um primeira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo unir

Where the eye mixes uma and uni

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
uma
3 ch
uni

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: uma is /ˈu.mɐ/ while uni is /ʊ.ˈni/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

uma is recorded at frequency rank #13, classified as anarticle, pronounced /ˈu.mɐ/. uni is at rank #18,214, tagged as averb, pronounced /ʊ.ˈni/.

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 18227, this pair ranks #52,812 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of uma vs uni

Shared letters: u. Private to "uma": am. Private to "uni": in.

"uma" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "uni" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "uma" and "uni" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "uma" is an article and "uni" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "uma" or "uni"?
"uma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13 in our Portuguese list, against #18,214 for "uni". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list