nome vs nou, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#46,689
“nome” frequency rank: #19,508
“nou” frequency rank: 66197
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nome	nou
Definition	Nombre	Nuevo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nome and nou apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

nome

3 ch

nou

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nome is [ˈno.me] while nou is [ˈnow]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nome is recorded at frequency rank #46,689, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈno.me]. 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 66197, this pair ranks #40,500 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nome vs nou

Shared letters: no. Private to "nome": em. Private to "nou": u.

"nome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "nou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

nome ← nmoe · nnome · noem · nomme · onme

Frequency comparison

nome#46,689

nou#19,508

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nome" and "nou" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nome" is a noun and "nou" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "nome" or "nou"?

"nou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,508 in our Spanish list, against #46,689 for "nome". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering nome vs nou

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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