Non-fiction or nonfiction?
non-fiction is a noun meaning “Alternative spelling of nonfiction”; nonfiction is a noun meaning “Written works intended to give facts, or true accounts of real things and…”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. non-fiction is written with a hyphen and nonfiction as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between non-fiction and nonfiction?
| non-fiction | nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | Alternative spelling of nonfiction | Written works intended to give facts, or true accounts of real things and events. Often used attributively |
| Example | none recorded | Encyclopedias, how-to manuals and biographies are all considered nonfiction and so are kept in the nonfiction section |
| Forms | none | nonfictions |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 1.8 times per million words |
Sources: non-fiction and nonfiction 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 non-fiction and nonfiction
non-fiction
- 1
Alternative spelling of nonfiction
nonfiction
- 1
Written works intended to give facts, or true accounts of real things and events. Often used attributively
Encyclopedias, how-to manuals and biographies are all considered nonfiction and so are kept in the nonfiction section
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, non-fiction or nonfiction?
non-fiction is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; nonfiction 1.8 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 non-fiction vs nonfiction?
“non-fiction vs nonfiction” is searched about 30 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“nonfiction vs non-fiction”, “non-fiction or nonfiction”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.