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PlainSpell

none

/nʌn/pronoun, determiner, adverb, noun

none is spelled N-O-N-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 85 times per million words in written English, the 1,251st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “non vs none” about 480 times a month (Google, United States). As a pronoun, none means “Not any of a given number or group” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in none?

Letters4: N-O-N-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing85 times per million words; the 1,251st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is none?

None appears 85 times per million words in written English, the 1,251st most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce none?

  • US /nʌn/
  • /nʊn/
  • Australia /nɐn/

As a noun (“A person without religious affiliation”): /nʌn/, /nɒn/.

As a noun (“Alternative form of nones: the ninth hour after dawn…”): /nəʊn/, /noʊn/.

None has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-none.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-none.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Grendelkhan-none.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with none

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

non vs none480 G

Sounds like: nun (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: non.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with none?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as none from its last stressed vowel (/ʌn/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: neon.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of none

  • non
  • nones plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does none mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

pronoun

  1. 1

    Not any of a given number or group.

    None of those is a good example. None are even acceptable.

  2. 2

    No one, nobody.

    None of those people is my father.

  3. 3

    No person.

    None of those people are my parents. None shall pass.

determiner

  1. 1

    Not any; no (usually used only before a vowel or h).

    Thou shalt have none other gods but me.

adverb

  1. 1

    To no extent, in no way.

    I felt none the worse for my recent illness.

  2. 2

    Not at all, not very.

    He was none too pleased with the delays in the program that was supposed to be his legacy.

  3. 3

    obsoleteNo, not.

noun

  1. 1

    USA person without religious affiliation.

  2. 2

    Alternative form of nones: the ninth hour after dawn; (Christianity) the religious service appointed to this hour.

  3. 3

    obsoleteSynonym of midafternoon: the time around or following noon or nones.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

None in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpersonne (not any person), aucun, aucune (not any thing), en rien (in no way), aucunement (not at all)
Germanniemand (not any person), keine (not any thing), kein, nichts (not at all)
Portugueseninguém (not any person), nenhum, nenhuma (not any thing)
Spanishnadie, ninguno (not any person)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does none come from?

From Middle English none, noon, non (“not one”), from Old English nān (“not one, not any, none”), from Proto-West Germanic *nain, from Proto-Germanic *nainaz (“none, nought, nothing”), equivalent to ne (“not”) + one. (Regarding the different phonological development of only and one, see the note in one.)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after none