Which to use
“naught” is a pronoun and “naughty” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,510
- “naught” frequency rank
- #9,214
- “naughty” frequency rank
- 39724
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | naught | naughty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nothing. | Mischievous; tending to misbehave or act badly (especially of a child). |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set naught and naughty apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: naught is /nɔːt/ while naughty is /ˈnɔːti/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “naught” sits inside “naughty”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
naught is recorded at frequency rank #30,510, classified as apron, pronounced /nɔːt/. naughty is at rank #9,214, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈnɔːti/.
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 39724, this pair ranks #274,113 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of naught vs naughty
Shared letters: aghntu. Private to "naught": -. Private to "naughty": y.
"naught" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC · "naughty" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "naught" and "naughty" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "naught" or "naughty"?
Remembering naught vs naughty
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “naught”; for an adjective, it's “naughty”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “naught” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable