Which to use
“us” is a pronoun and “usa” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #999
- “us” frequency rank
- #1,103
- “usa” frequency rank
- 2102
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | us | usa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nos | terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo usar |
Where the eye mixes us and usa
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses us with usa
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: us is /ʌs/ while usa is /ˈu.zə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “us” sits inside “usa”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2102, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
us is recorded at frequency rank #999, classified as apron, pronounced /ʌs/. 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 2102, this pair ranks #73,384 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of us vs usa
Shared letters: su. Private to "us": -. Private to "usa": a.
"us" · 2 letters · shape VC · "usa" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "us" for "usa" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "us" or "usa" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "us" 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 #73,384 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "us" and "usa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ú vs usa". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #73,384 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.