nonvsnoteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: non is a noun, note is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“non” is a noun and “note” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,501
“non” frequency rank
#8,150
“note” frequency rank
17651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature non note
Definition Dícese del número no divisible por dos. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de notar.

Where the eye mixes non and note

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
non
4 ch
note

Visual trap between non and note

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: non is [ˈnõn] while note is [ˈnot̪e]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

non is recorded at frequency rank #9,501, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈnõn]. note is at rank #8,150, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnot̪e].

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 17651, this pair ranks #271,272 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of non vs note

Shared letters: no. Private to "non": -. Private to "note": et.

"non" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "note" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • notennote · noet · notte · ntoe · onte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "non" and "note" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "non" is a noun and "note" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "non" vs "note" - which ranks higher?
"note" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,150 in our Spanish list, against #9,501 for "non". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "non" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "note" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #271,272 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "non" and "note" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "non vs nox". 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 #271,272 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