não vs NN, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“não” is an adverb and “NN” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,506
“não” frequency rank: #23,148
“NN” frequency rank: 64654
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	não	NN
Definition	No.	Individuo cuya identidad no se conoce.

Where the eye mixes não and NN

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. não runs 3 letters (CVV) against NN's 2 (CC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch

não

2 ch

Look-alike desk: não vs NN

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: não is [nɐ̃w] while NN is [ˈn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64654, 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]. NN is at rank #23,148, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈn].

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 64654, this pair ranks #44,971 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of não vs NN

Shared letters: n. Private to "não": oã. Private to "NN": -.

"não" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "NN" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "não" and "NN" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "não" is an adverb and "NN" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary Spanish text, does "não" or "NN" show up more?

"NN" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,148 in our Spanish list, against #41,506 for "não". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "não" and "NN" 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 "NN" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #44,971 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"não" and "NN" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "não vs nox". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #44,971 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.