neuvsnomWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#40,394
“neu” frequency rank
#214
“nom” frequency rank
40608
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neu nom
Definition Nouveau. 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 eye mixes neu and nom

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

3 ch
neu
3 ch
nom

Visual trap between neu and nom

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neu is \nɔɪ̯\ 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 40608, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neu is recorded at frequency rank #40,394, classified as anadj, pronounced \nɔɪ̯\. 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 40608, this pair ranks #239,270 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of neu vs nom

Shared letters: n. Private to "neu": eu. Private to "nom": mo.

"neu" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "nom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "neu" and "nom" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "neu" is an adjective and "nom" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "neu" or "nom"?
"nom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #214 in our French list, against #40,394 for "neu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "neu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #239,270 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neu" and "nom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "neu vs nop". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #239,270 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