ninvsniniWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: nin is a pronoun, nini is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nin” is a pronoun and “nini” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,308
“nin” frequency rank
#40,975
“nini” frequency rank
73283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nin nini
Definition Ese . Joven que no estudia ni ejerce ningún oficio.

Where the eye mixes nin and nini

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
nin
4 ch
nini

Visual trap between nin and nini

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nin is /ˈnin/ while nini is [ˈnini]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “nin” sits inside “nini”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nin is recorded at frequency rank #32,308, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈnin/. nini is at rank #40,975, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈnini].

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 73283, this pair ranks #23,605 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nin vs nini

Shared letters: in. Private to "nin": -. Private to "nini": -.

"nin" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nini" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • niniinni · niin · ninni · nnii · nnini

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nin" and "nini" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nin" is a pronoun and "nini" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "nin" or "nini" show up more?
"nin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,308 in our Spanish list, against #40,975 for "nini". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nini" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,605 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nin" and "nini" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nini vs nui". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #23,605 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