Which to use
“nœud” is a noun and “nous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,449
- “nœud” frequency rank
- #50
- “nous” frequency rank
- 11499
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nœud | nous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enlacement, entrecroisement serré de quelque chose de flexible, ruban, soie, fil, corde, etc. que l’on fait soit à un bout pour l’arrêter, soit avec deux bouts pour les unir. | Pronom de la première personne du pluriel, incluant le locuteur ainsi que d’autres personnes au nom de qui il parle, utilisable en sujet, en complément d’objet, ou en tant que pronom tonique pour marquer l’insistance sur la personne. |
Where the eye mixes nœud and nous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses nœud with nous
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nœud is \nø\ while nous is \nu\. 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11499, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nœud is recorded at frequency rank #11,449, classified as anoun, pronounced \nø\. nous is at rank #50, tagged as apron, pronounced \nu\.
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 11499, this pair ranks #408,914 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of nœud vs nous
Shared letters: nu. Private to "nœud": dœ. Private to "nous": os.
"nœud" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nous ← nnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nœud" for "nous" ever safe?
Which is more common, "nœud" or "nous"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "nœud" and "nous" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "nœud" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #408,914 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nœud" and "nous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nœud vs neue". 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 #408,914 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.