Know or no?
know is a verb meaning “To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that”; no is a determiner meaning “Not any”. Use know as a verb and no as a determiner (no is also a verb: “To say “no””). They sound the same (/nəʊ/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) no is about 1.8 times as common as know.
What is the difference between know and no?
| know | no | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun, particle | noun, adjective, determiner, adverb, particle, preposition, verb, interjection |
| Meaning | To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that To be or become aware or cognizant Knowledge; the state of knowing. (Now confined to the fixed phrase in the know.) | Not any Hardly any Used before different, before comparatives with more and less, and idiomatically before other comparatives |
| Example | I know that I’m right and you’re wrong | no one |
| Forms | knows, knowing, knew, known | Nos, nos., noes, nos, noing, noed |
| Pronunciation | /nəʊ/ /no/ /nou/ | /nəʊ/ /no/ /noː/ |
| In writing | 1,259 times per million words | 2,239 times per million words |
Sources: know and no in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of know and no
know
- 1
To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that
I know that I’m right and you’re wrong
- 2
Knowledge; the state of knowing. (Now confined to the fixed phrase in the know.)
- 3
Alternative form of knowe (“hill, knoll”)
- 4
Used at the end of a sentence to draw attention to information one thinks the listener should keep in mind
Make sure you water the plants, know…
- 5
To be or become aware or cognizant
Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew
- 6
To be aware of; to be cognizant of
Did you know Michelle and Jack were getting divorced? ― Yes, I knew
- 7
To be acquainted or familiar with; to have encountered
I know your mother, but I've never met your father
- 8
To experience
Their relationship knew ups and downs
no
- 1
Alternative form of noh
- 2
Initialism of normally open
- 3
Alternative form of No.
- 4
Alternative form of Noh: a form of classical Japanese drama
- 5
Alternative form of No.
- 6
Not any
no one
- 7
Used before different, before comparatives with more and less, and idiomatically before other comparatives
It is a less physical kind of torture, but no less gruesome
- 8
Used to show disagreement, negation, denial, refusal, or prohibition
No, you are mistaken
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, know or no?
know appears 1,259 times per million words; no 2,239 times per million words.
know 1,259 times per million wordsno 2,239 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search know vs no?
“know vs no” is searched about 390 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“no vs know”, “know or no”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.