nãovsnueWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: não is a adverb, nue is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#41,506
“não” frequency rank
#33,743
“nue” frequency rank
75249
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature não nue
Definition No. Nube.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set não and nue apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
não
3 ch
nue

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: não is [nɐ̃w] while nue is [ˈnwe]. 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 75249, 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]. nue is at rank #33,743, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈnwe].

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 75249, this pair ranks #19,924 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of não vs nue

Shared letters: n. Private to "não": . Private to "nue": eu.

"não" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "nue" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

não#41,506
nue#33,743

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "não" and "nue" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "não" is an adverb and "nue" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "não" or "nue"?
"nue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,743 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.

Remembering não vs nue

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list