únicovsunitWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: único is a adjective, unit is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“único” is an adjective and “unit” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#515
“único” frequency rank
#24,488
“unit” frequency rank
25003
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature único unit
Definition singular unidade em seus vários sentidos:

Letter map: único vs unit

Shared letters muted; letters that set único and unit apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. único runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against unit's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
único
4 ch
unit

Grammar separator: único vs unit

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: único is anadjective and unitanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25003, 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/. unit is at rank #24,488, tagged as anoun.

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 25003, this pair ranks #44,412 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of único vs unit

Shared letters: in. Private to "único": coú. Private to "unit": tu.

"único" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "unit" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • unit ← nuit · uint · unitt · unnit · unti

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "único" and "unit" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "único" is an adjective and "unit" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "único" or "unit" show up more?
"único" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #515 in our Portuguese list, against #24,488 for "unit". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "único" and "unit". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "único" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "unit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,412 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "único" and "unit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "unit vs ut". 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 #44,412 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