norvsnousTell them apart

Quick tell: nor is a particle, nous is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nor” is a particle and “nous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,554
“nor” frequency rank
#37,704
“nous” frequency rank
64258
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nor nous
Definition verschliffene Floskel für die eingeschobene, rhetorische Frage „Gelt es?“, „Gilt es?“, „Habe ich recht?“ oder „Nicht wahr?“, „Stimmt es?“, um sich der (vorausgesetzten) Zustimmung zu versichern. Die Frage wird nicht oder nur mit der gleichen Floskel beantwortet. wir

Letter map: nor vs nous

Shared letters muted; letters that set nor and nous apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
nor
4 ch
nous

Grammar separator: nor vs nous

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nor is aparticle and nousapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64258, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nor is recorded at frequency rank #26,554, classified as aparticle, 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 64258, this pair ranks #647,984 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nor vs nous

Shared letters: no. Private to "nor": r. Private to "nous": su.

"nor" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nousnnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nor" for "nous" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nor" is a particle and "nous" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nor" or "nous"?
"nor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,554 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.

What to do next

You've compared "nor" and "nous". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nor" 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 #647,984 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nor" 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 #647,984 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list