nth vs nu, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#32,102
“nth” frequency rank: #13,967
“nu” frequency rank: 46069
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nth	nu
Definition	Occurring at position n in a sequence.	The letter of the Greek alphabet Ν (N) and ν (n).

Where the eye mixes nth and nu

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

3 ch

nth

2 ch

Visual trap between nth and nu

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nth is /ɛnθ/ while nu is /njuː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nth is recorded at frequency rank #32,102, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɛnθ/. nu is at rank #13,967, tagged as anoun, pronounced /njuː/.

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 46069, this pair ranks #215,286 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nth vs nu

Shared letters: n. Private to "nth": ht. Private to "nu": u.

"nth" · 3 letters · shape CCC · "nu" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nth" and "nu" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nth" is an adjective and "nu" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary English text, does "nth" or "nu" show up more?

"nu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,967 in our English list, against #32,102 for "nth". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "nth" and "nu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "nth" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "nu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #215,286 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nth" and "nu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "NPL vs nth". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #215,286 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.