Which to use
“uns” is an article and “usa” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #485
- “uns” frequency rank
- #1,103
- “usa” frequency rank
- 1588
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | uns | usa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | alguns; certas pessoas | terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo usar |
Letter map: uns vs usa
Shared letters muted; letters that set uns and usa apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for uns / usa
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: uns is anarticle and usaaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
uns is recorded at frequency rank #485, classified as anarticle. usa is at rank #1,103, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈu.zə/.
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 1588, this pair ranks #73,953 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of uns vs usa
Shared letters: su. Private to "uns": n. Private to "usa": a.
"uns" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "usa" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "uns" for "usa" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "uns" or "usa" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "uns" and "usa".
- Full dictionary entry for "uns" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "usa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,953 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "uns" and "usa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "uns vs unser". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #73,953 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.