noisevsnousWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: noise is a noun, nous is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“noise” is a noun and “nous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,196
“noise” frequency rank
#37,704
“nous” frequency rank
68900
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature noise nous
Definition Lärm, Geräusch, Geschrei, Gerücht, Ton, Tonspiel wir

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set noise and nous apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
noise
4 ch
nous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: noise is anoun and nousapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

noise is recorded at frequency rank #31,196, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. nous is at rank #37,704, tagged as apron, pronounced [nu].

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 68900, this pair ranks #493,321 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of noise vs nous

Shared letters: nos. Private to "noise": ei. Private to "nous": u.

"noise" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • noiseniose · nnoise · noies · noisse · nosie · onise
  • nousnnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus

Frequency comparison

noise#31,196
nous#37,704

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "noise" and "nous" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "noise" is a noun and "nous" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "noise" or "nous"?
"noise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,196 in our German list, against #37,704 for "nous". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering noise vs nous

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “noise”; for a pronoun, it's “nous”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “noise” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list