únicovsunidoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#515
“único” frequency rank
#2,296
“unido” frequency rank
2811
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature único unido
Definition singular junto

Where the eye mixes único and unido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. único and unido follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
único
5 ch
unido

Look-alike desk: único vs unido

A purely visual mix-up. único (/ˈu.ni.ku/) and unido (/u.ˈni.du/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

único is recorded at frequency rank #515, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈu.ni.ku/. unido is at rank #2,296, tagged as anadj, pronounced /u.ˈni.du/.

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 2811, this pair ranks #72,449 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of único vs unido

Shared letters: ino. Private to "único": cú. Private to "unido": du.

"único" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "unido" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • unido ← nuido · uindo · undio · uniddo · uniod · unnido

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "único" and "unido" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈu.ni.ku/ versus /u.ˈni.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "único" vs "unido" - which ranks higher?
"único" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #515 in our Portuguese list, against #2,296 for "unido". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "único" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "unido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,449 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "único" and "unido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "und vs unido". 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 #72,449 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list