Which to use
“ne” is a particle and “ny” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30
- “ne” frequency rank
- #10,201
- “ny” frequency rank
- 10231
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ne | ny |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Négation. Première partie d’un morphème en général à double forme encadrant le verbe et certains pronoms. Parfois appelé discordantiel, ne est complété d’un forclusif : pas, plus, jamais, point, personne, rien, aucun, nul, etc., ou de formules archaïsantes : goutte, mie, mais (n’en pouvoir mais). | Nous. |
Letter map: ne vs ny
Shared letters muted; letters that set ne and ny apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Role in the sentence - ne and ny
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ne is aparticle and nyapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “ne” becomes y in “ny”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ne is recorded at frequency rank #30, classified as aparticle, pronounced \nə\. ny is at rank #10,201, tagged as apron, pronounced \ˈ\.
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 10231, this pair ranks #413,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ne vs ny
Shared letters: n. Private to "ne": e. Private to "ny": y.
"ne" · 2 letters · shape CV · "ny" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ne" and "ny" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "ne" or "ny"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ne" and "ny".
- Full dictionary entry for "ne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ny" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #413,746 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ne" and "ny" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nop vs ny". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #413,746 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.