NavsnusWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Na is a symbol, nus is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Na” is a symbol and “nus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,897
“Na” frequency rank
#7,091
“nus” frequency rank
12988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Na nus
Definition Symbole chimique du sodium. Masculin pluriel de nu.

Letter map: Na vs nus

Shared letters muted; letters that set Na and nus apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch
Na
3 ch
nus

Part-of-speech tell for Na / nus

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Na is asymbol and nusanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Na is recorded at frequency rank #5,897, classified as asymbol. nus is at rank #7,091, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ny\.

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 12988, this pair ranks #402,887 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Na vs nus

Shared letters: n. Private to "Na": a. Private to "nus": su.

"Na" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "nus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Na" for "nus" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Na" is a symbol and "nus" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Na" vs "nus" - which ranks higher?
"Na" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,897 in our French list, against #7,091 for "nus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Na" and "nus".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Na" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #402,887 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Na" and "nus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noués vs nus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #402,887 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list