néesvsnomsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: nées is a adjective, noms is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#12,206
“nées” frequency rank
#1,396
“noms” frequency rank
13602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nées noms
Definition Féminin pluriel de né. Pluriel de nom.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
nées
4 ch
noms

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nées is \ne\ while noms is \nɔ̃\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nées is recorded at frequency rank #12,206, classified as anadj, pronounced \ne\. noms is at rank #1,396, tagged as anoun, pronounced \nɔ̃\.

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 13602, this pair ranks #400,325 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nées vs noms

Shared letters: ns. Private to "nées": . Private to "noms": mo.

"nées" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "noms" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nomsnmos · nnoms · nomms · nomss · nosm · onms

Frequency comparison

nées#12,206
noms#1,396

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nées" and "noms" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nées" is an adjective and "noms" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nées" or "noms"?
"noms" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,396 in our French list, against #12,206 for "nées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering nées vs noms

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list