Which to use
“non” is an adverb and “nous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,204
- “non” frequency rank
- #37,704
- “nous” frequency rank
- 42908
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | non | nous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | nicht | wir |
Letter map: non vs nous
Shared letters muted; letters that set non and nous apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - non and nous
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: non is anadverb and nousapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
non is recorded at frequency rank #5,204, classified as anadv, 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 42908, this pair ranks #1,434,705 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of non vs nous
Shared letters: no. Private to "non": -. Private to "nous": su.
"non" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nous ← nnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "non" and "nous" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "non" or "nous" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "non" and "nous". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "non" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,434,705 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "non" and "nous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nous vs nox". 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 #1,434,705 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.