Which to use
“não” is an adverb and “noi” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,506
- “não” frequency rank
- #45,471
- “noi” frequency rank
- 86977
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | não | noi |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | No. | Nosotros |
Where the eye mixes não and noi
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. não and noi follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses não with noi
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: não is [nɐ̃w] while noi is /ˈnoj/. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86977, 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]. noi is at rank #45,471, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈnoj/.
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 86977, this pair ranks #4,854 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of não vs noi
Shared letters: no. Private to "não": ã. Private to "noi": i.
"não" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "noi" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "não" and "noi" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "não" vs "noi" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "não" and "noi" 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 "noi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,854 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "não" and "noi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noi vs nox". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #4,854 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.