nos vs nr, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nos” is a noun and “nr” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,600
“nos” frequency rank: #16,545
“nr” frequency rank: 31145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nos	nr
Definition	plural of no	Abbreviation of near.

Letter map: nos vs nr

Shared letters muted; letters that set nos and nr apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

nos

2 ch

Grammar separator: nos vs nr

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nos is anoun and nrapreposition. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31145, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nos is recorded at frequency rank #14,600, classified as anoun. nr is at rank #16,545, tagged as aprep.

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 31145, this pair ranks #348,641 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nos vs nr

Shared letters: n. Private to "nos": os. Private to "nr": r.

"nos" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nr" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nos" for "nr" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nos" is a noun and "nr" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary English text, does "nos" or "nr" show up more?

"nos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,600 in our English list, against #16,545 for "nr". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "nos" vs "nr" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "nos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "nr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #348,641 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nos" and "nr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "NPL vs nr". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #348,641 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.