nació vs nai, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nació” is a verb and “nai” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,177
“nació” frequency rank: #43,733
“nai” frequency rank: 45910
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nació	nai
Definition	Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de nacer.	Madre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nació and nai apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

nació

3 ch

nai

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nació is [naˈsjo] while nai is [ˈna̠j]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nació is recorded at frequency rank #2,177, classified as averb, pronounced [naˈsjo]. nai is at rank #43,733, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈna̠j].

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 45910, this pair ranks #128,771 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nació vs nai

Shared letters: ain. Private to "nació": có. Private to "nai": -.

"nació" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "nai" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

nació#2,177

nai#43,733

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nació" and "nai" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "nació" or "nai"?

"nació" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,177 in our Spanish list, against #43,733 for "nai". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering nació vs nai

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “nació”; for a noun, it's “nai”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nació” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable