Which to use
“não” is an adverb and “nie” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,506
- “não” frequency rank
- #38,268
- “nie” frequency rank
- 79774
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | não | nie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | No. | Perineo. |
Where the eye mixes não and nie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. não and nie follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: não vs nie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: não is [nɐ̃w] while nie is [ˈnje]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79774, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
não is recorded at frequency rank #41,506, classified as anadv, pronounced [nɐ̃w]. nie is at rank #38,268, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈnje].
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 79774, this pair ranks #12,547 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of não vs nie
Shared letters: n. Private to "não": oã. Private to "nie": ei.
"não" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "nie" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "não" and "nie" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "não" or "nie"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "não" and "nie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "não" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #12,547 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "não" and "nie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "não vs nox". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #12,547 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.