newvsnuiTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,907
“new” frequency rank
#48,561
“nui” frequency rank
50468
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature new nui
Definition Nuevo, nueva. Grande

Where the eye mixes new and nui

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

3 ch
new
3 ch
nui

Why the eye confuses new with nui

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: new is /njuː/ while nui is [ˈnu.i]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50468, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

new is recorded at frequency rank #1,907, classified as anadj, pronounced /njuː/. 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 50468, this pair ranks #103,046 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of new vs nui

Shared letters: n. Private to "new": ew. Private to "nui": iu.

"new" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "new" and "nui" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "new" is an adjective and "nui" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "new" or "nui" show up more?
"new" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,907 in our Spanish list, against #48,561 for "nui". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "new" and "nui" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "new" 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 #103,046 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "new" and "nui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nox vs nui". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #103,046 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