ndevsnouConfusable pair

Quick tell: nde is a pronoun, nou is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nde” is a pronoun and “nou” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,972
“nde” frequency rank
#19,508
“nou” frequency rank
60480
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nde nou
Definition Tú, vos, usted. Pronombre personal de segunda persona singular Nuevo

Where the eye mixes nde and nou

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
nde
3 ch
nou

Why the eye confuses nde with nou

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nde is [ⁿde] while nou is [ˈnow]. 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60480, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nde is recorded at frequency rank #40,972, classified as apron, pronounced [ⁿde]. nou is at rank #19,508, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnow].

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 60480, this pair ranks #58,800 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nde vs nou

Shared letters: n. Private to "nde": de. Private to "nou": ou.

"nde" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "nou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nde" and "nou" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nde" is a pronoun and "nou" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "nde" vs "nou" - which ranks higher?
"nou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,508 in our Spanish list, against #40,972 for "nde". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,800 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nde" and "nou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nde vs nox". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #58,800 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list