nésvsnomWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#4,785
“nés” frequency rank
#214
“nom” frequency rank
4999
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nés nom
Definition Masculin pluriel de né. Mot ou groupe de mots permettant de nommer un être ou une chose. Un nom peut être un nom commun, une locution nominale ou un nom propre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nés and nom apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
nés
3 ch
nom

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nés is \ne\ while nom 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 4999, 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\. nom is at rank #214, 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 4999, this pair ranks #430,166 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nés vs nom

Shared letters: n. Private to "nés": . Private to "nom": mo.

"nés" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

nés#4,785
nom#214

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nés" and "nom" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nés" is an adjective and "nom" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nés" or "nom"?
"nom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #214 in our French list, against #4,785 for "nés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering nés vs nom

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “nés”; for a noun, it's “nom”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nés” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list