nésvsnoiConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#4,785
“nés” frequency rank
#43,572
“noi” frequency rank
48357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nés noi
Definition Masculin pluriel de né. Garçon, jeune homme.

Where the eye mixes nés and noi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
nés
3 ch
noi

Visual trap between nés and noi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nés is \ne\ while noi is \ˈnɔj\. 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 48357, 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\. noi is at rank #43,572, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈnɔj\.

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 48357, this pair ranks #179,562 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nés vs noi

Shared letters: n. Private to "nés": . Private to "noi": io.

"nés" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "noi" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nés" for "noi" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nés" is an adjective and "noi" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "nés" vs "noi" - which ranks higher?
"nés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,785 in our French list, against #43,572 for "noi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "nés" and "noi" 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 "noi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #179,562 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nés" and "noi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noi vs nop". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #179,562 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