nobvsnthConfusable pair

Quick tell: nob is a noun, nth is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nob” is a noun and “nth” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,373
“nob” frequency rank
#32,102
“nth” frequency rank
76475
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nob nth
Definition The head. Occurring at position n in a sequence.

Where the eye mixes nob and nth

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
nob
3 ch
nth

Look-alike desk: nob vs nth

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nob is /nɒb/ while nth is /ɛnθ/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nob is recorded at frequency rank #44,373, classified as anoun, pronounced /nɒb/. nth is at rank #32,102, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɛnθ/.

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 76475, this pair ranks #30,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nob vs nth

Shared letters: n. Private to "nob": bo. Private to "nth": ht.

"nob" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nth" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nob" for "nth" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nob" is a noun and "nth" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "nob" vs "nth" - which ranks higher?
"nth" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,102 in our English list, against #44,373 for "nob". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nob" and "nth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nob vs NPL". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #30,011 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list