usavsutWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: usa is a verb, ut is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“usa” is a verb and “ut” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,103
“usa” frequency rank
#39,908
“ut” frequency rank
41011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature usa ut
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo usar como

Letter map: usa vs ut

Shared letters muted; letters that set usa and ut apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
usa
2 ch
ut

Grammar separator: usa vs ut

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: usa is averb and utaconjunction. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

usa is recorded at frequency rank #1,103, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈu.zə/. ut is at rank #39,908, tagged as aconj.

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 41011, this pair ranks #25,009 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of usa vs ut

Shared letters: u. Private to "usa": as. Private to "ut": t.

"usa" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ut" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "usa" and "ut" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "usa" is a verb and "ut" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "usa" or "ut"?
"usa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,103 in our Portuguese list, against #39,908 for "ut". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "usa" vs "ut" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "usa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,009 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "usa" and "ut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ú vs ut". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #25,009 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