Non or none?
non is a noun meaning “A non-Muslim citizen”; none is a pronoun meaning “Not any of a given number or group”. Use non as a noun and none as a pronoun (none is also a noun: “A person without religious affiliation”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) non is about 2.3 times as common as none.
What is the difference between non and none?
| non | none | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adverb, noun, prefix | pronoun, determiner, adverb, noun |
| Meaning | Used in the sense of no or none, to show lack of or failure to perform; or in the sense of not, to negate the meaning of the word to which it is prefixed Not, the negation of the root word (a quality) prevocalic form of nona- | Not any of a given number or group No one, nobody Not any; no (usually used only before a vowel or h) |
| Example | nonpayment (“lack of payment, failure to pay”) | None of those is a good example. None are even acceptable |
| Forms | nons | non |
| Pronunciation | /nɑn/ /nɒn/ /ˈnɒn/ | /nʌn/ /nʊn/ /nɐn/ |
| In writing | 195 times per million words | 85 times per million words |
Sources: non and none 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 and none
non
- 1
slangA non-Muslim citizen
- 2
Used in the sense of no or none, to show lack of or failure to perform; or in the sense of not, to negate the meaning of the word to which it is prefixed
nonpayment (“lack of payment, failure to pay”)
- 3
prevocalic form of nona-
- 4
Abbreviation of nones: the notional first-quarter day of a Roman month, used in dates of the Roman calendar
- 5
slangA nonwhite person
- 6
Not, the negation of the root word (a quality)
nonaboriginal
- 7
Absence, the absence of the root (a quantity)
nonaccountability
- 8
Avoiding an action
nonabiding
none
- 1
Not any of a given number or group
None of those is a good example. None are even acceptable
- 2
Not any; no (usually used only before a vowel or h)
Thou shalt have none other gods but me
- 3
To no extent, in no way
I felt none the worse for my recent illness
- 4
USA person without religious affiliation
- 5
Alternative form of nones: the ninth hour after dawn; (Christianity) the religious service appointed to this hour
- 6
No one, nobody
None of those people is my father
- 7
Not at all, not very
He was none too pleased with the delays in the program that was supposed to be his legacy
- 8
No person
None of those people are my parents. None shall pass
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 or none?
non appears 195 times per million words; none 85 times per million words.
non 195 times per million wordsnone 85 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 vs none?
“non vs none” is searched about 480 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“none vs non”, “non or none”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.