nis vs nous, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nis” is a verb and “nous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,821
“nis” frequency rank: #50
“nous” frequency rank: 49871
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nis	nous
Definition	Participe actif présent du verbe ní (« se déplacer »).	Pronom de la première personne du pluriel, incluant le locuteur ainsi que d’autres personnes au nom de qui il parle, utilisable en sujet, en complément d’objet, ou en tant que pronom tonique pour marquer l’insistance sur la personne.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

nis

4 ch

nous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nis is \nis\ while nous is \nu\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nis is recorded at frequency rank #49,821, classified as averb, pronounced \nis\. nous is at rank #50, tagged as apron, pronounced \nu\.

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 49871, this pair ranks #167,235 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nis vs nous

Shared letters: ns. Private to "nis": i. Private to "nous": ou.

"nis" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

nous ← nnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus

Frequency comparison

nis#49,821

nous#50

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nis" and "nous" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nis" is a verb and "nous" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "nis" or "nous"?

"nous" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #50 in our French list, against #49,821 for "nis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering nis vs nous

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “nis”; for a pronoun, it's “nous”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nis” entry
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