norivsnoseTell them apart

Which to use

“nori” and “nose” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,229
“nori” frequency rank
#2,956
“nose” frequency rank
50185
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nori nose
Definition A type of seaweed, a red alga, laver (genus Pyropia, including species P. yezoensis and P. tenera). A protuberance on the face housing the nostrils, which are used to breathe or smell.

Letter map: nori vs nose

Shared letters muted; letters that set nori and nose apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. nori and nose follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
nori
4 ch
nose

Pair insight - nori / nose

nori and nose are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nori is recorded at frequency rank #47,229, classified as anoun. nose is at rank #2,956, tagged as anoun, pronounced [nəʊ̯z].

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 50185, this pair ranks #176,593 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nori vs nose

Shared letters: no. Private to "nori": ir. Private to "nose": es.

"nori" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "nose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nori ← nnori · norri · nroi · onri
  • nose ← nnose · nosse · nsoe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nori" for "nose" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "nori" vs "nose" - which ranks higher?
"nose" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,956 in our English list, against #47,229 for "nori". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "nori" vs "nose" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nori" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,593 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nori" and "nose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nasi vs nori". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #176,593 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