NotevsnousConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#3,986
“Note” frequency rank
#37,704
“nous” frequency rank
41690
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Note nous
Definition Symbol zur schriftlichen Aufzeichnung eines Tones, dessen Platzierung im Notensystem die Tonhöhe – ausgedrückt im Notennamen – und dessen äußere Gestalt die Tondauer – den Notenwert – anzeigt. Es besteht aus Notenkopf und Hals, größere Notenwerte nur aus dem Notenkopf. wir

Where the eye mixes Note and nous

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Note
4 ch
nous

Why the eye confuses Note with nous

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Note is [ˈnoːtə] while nous is [nu]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41690, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Note is recorded at frequency rank #3,986, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈnoːtə]. 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 41690, this pair ranks #1,471,958 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Note vs nous

Shared letters: no. Private to "Note": et. Private to "nous": su.

"Note" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Notennote · noet · notte · ntoe · onte
  • nousnnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Note" and "nous" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Note" is a noun and "nous" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Note" or "nous" show up more?
"Note" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,986 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

Eye-level mix-up between "Note" and "nous" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Note" 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 #1,471,958 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Note" 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 #1,471,958 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