Which to use
“nés” is an adjective and “nis” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,785
- “nés” frequency rank
- #49,821
- “nis” frequency rank
- 54606
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nés | nis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de né. | Participe actif présent du verbe ní (« se déplacer »). |
Where the eye mixes nés and nis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. nés and nis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses nés with nis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nés is \ne\ while nis is \nis\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - é in “nés” becomes i in “nis”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nés is recorded at frequency rank #4,785, classified as anadj, pronounced \ne\. nis is at rank #49,821, tagged as averb, pronounced \nis\.
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 54606, this pair ranks #132,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of nés vs nis
Shared letters: ns. Private to "nés": é. Private to "nis": i.
"nés" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "nés" and "nis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "nés" or "nis"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "nés" and "nis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "nés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #132,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nés" and "nis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nis vs nop". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #132,897 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.