nox

noun

"nox" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“nox” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #34,207) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#34,207
frequency rank, English
1,534
“N” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The period of darkness in each twenty-four hours; a night.

Corpus desk

Index EN-nox · nox · English

nox · rank #34,207 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #34,207
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,534
  • PHOTO-FINISH Nieto

Nearest frequency peer: Nieto (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “nox”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “nox” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

nox vs NZ
0% similar
nox vs NT
0% similar
nox vs NP
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for nox
PropertyValue
Headwordnox
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters3
Frequency rank#34,207
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “nox”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).noxlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “Nieto” (#34,206), “nymph” (#34,208), “oceanography” (#34,209). Among 1,534 “N” headwords, “nox” is #34,207. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for nox is neighbouring look-alikes ("NZ", "NT", …), not just typos; it is anoun. Frequency #34,207 among 1,534 “N” headwords. Gloss: "The period of darkness in each twenty-four hours; a night.".

nox doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NZ", "NT", "NP", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts Proto-Italic *nokts Latin noxlbor. English nox Learned borrowing from Latin nox, from Proto-Italic *nokts, from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. The correct English form is nox, spelled N-O-X.

Definition

  1. 1
    The period of darkness in each twenty-four hours; a night.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts Proto-Italic *nokts Latin noxlbor. English nox Learned borrowing from Latin nox, from Proto-Italic *nokts, from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "nox"?
"nox" is spelled N-O-X.
What does "nox" mean?
As a noun, "nox" means: The period of darkness in each twenty-four hours; a night.
What words are commonly confused with "nox"?
"nox" is commonly confused with "NZ", "NT", "NP". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "nox"?
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts Proto-Italic *nokts Latin noxlbor. English nox Learned borrowing from Latin nox, from Proto-Italic *nokts, from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "nox", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list