nevsnuiTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#8,998
“ne” frequency rank
#48,561
“nui” frequency rank
57559
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ne nui
Definition No. Grande

Letter map: ne vs nui

Shared letters muted; letters that set ne and nui apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch
ne
3 ch
nui

Grammar separator: ne vs nui

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ne is anadverb and nuianoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57559, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ne is recorded at frequency rank #8,998, classified as anadv. nui is at rank #48,561, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈnu.i].

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 57559, this pair ranks #70,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ne vs nui

Shared letters: n. Private to "ne": e. Private to "nui": iu.

"ne" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "nui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ne" and "nui" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ne" is an adverb and "nui" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ne" or "nui"?
"ne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,998 in our Spanish list, against #48,561 for "nui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ne" and "nui".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ne" and "nui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nox vs nui". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #70,013 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