nun

/nʌn/

//nʌn// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

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

The verdict

“nun” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #12,289) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#12,289
frequency rank, English
1,534
“N” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A member of a Christian religious community of women who live by certain vows and usually wear a habit, (Roman Catholicism, specifically) those living together in a cloister.

Corpus desk

Index EN-nun · nun · English

nun · rank #12,289 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #12,289
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,534
  • PHOTO-FINISH noticing

Nearest frequency peer: noticing (-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 “nun”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “nun” 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).

nun vs NZ
0% similar
nun vs NYC
0% similar
nun vs nut
67% similar

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

Key facts for nun
PropertyValue
Headwordnun
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/nʌn/
Letters3
Frequency rank#12,289
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “nun”

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).nunlands here:

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “noticing” (#12,288), “nutritional” (#12,290), “northeastern” (#12,287). Among 1,534 “N” headwords, “nun” is #12,289. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for nun is neighbouring look-alikes ("NZ", "NYC", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /nʌn/. Frequency #12,289 among 1,534 “N” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for nun, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "NZ", "NYC", "nut", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English nonne, nunne, from Old English nunne (“nun”), from Late Latin nonna (“nun, tutor”), originally (along with masculine form nonnus (“man”)) a term of address for elderly persons, perhaps from children's speech, reminiscent of nana, like pa… The correct English form is nun, spelled N-U-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A member of a Christian religious community of women who live by certain vows and usually wear a habit, (Roman Catholicism, specifically) those living together in a cloister.
  2. 2
    A member of a similar female community in other confessions.
  3. 3
    A prostitute.
  4. 4
    A kind of pigeon with the feathers on its head like the hood of a nun.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how nun appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Thus, when the nuns came to the mission and we saw that instead of murmuring soft blessings and gliding seraphically over the grass in diaphanous habits, they wore smart blouses and skirts and walked, laughed and talked in low twanging tones very much like our own American missionaries did, we were very disappointed.
  2. a Buddhist nun

Etymology

From Middle English nonne, nunne, from Old English nunne (“nun”), from Late Latin nonna (“nun, tutor”), originally (along with masculine form nonnus (“man”)) a term of address for elderly persons, perhaps from children's speech, reminiscent of nana, like papa etc. Doublet of nonna.

This word in other languages

monja(Español)nonne(Français)Nonne(Deutsch)freira(Português)

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 "nun"?
"nun" is spelled N-U-N. The IPA pronunciation is /nʌn/.
What does "nun" mean?
As a noun, "nun" means: A member of a Christian religious community of women who live by certain vows and usually wear a habit, (Roman Catholicism, specifically) those living together in a cloister.
What words are commonly confused with "nun"?
"nun" is commonly confused with "NZ", "NYC", "nut". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "nun"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nun" is /nʌn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "nun"?
From Middle English nonne, nunne, from Old English nunne (“nun”), from Late Latin nonna (“nun, tutor”), originally (along with masculine form nonnus (“man”)) a term of address for elderly persons, perhaps from children's speech, reminiscent of nan... 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 "nun", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

pup#12,305RAF#12,308LAN#12,268kat#12,262

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list