nn vs nos, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nn” is an adverb and “nos” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,303
“nn” frequency rank: #147
“nos” frequency rank: 24450
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nn	nos
Definition	Ne pas.	Première personne du pluriel. Qui sont à nous. Plusieurs possesseurs et plusieurs objets.

Where the eye mixes nn and nos

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

2 ch

3 ch

nos

Visual trap between nn and nos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nn is \ˈnon\ while nos is \no\. 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 (adverb vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24450, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nn is recorded at frequency rank #24,303, classified as anadv, pronounced \ˈnon\. nos is at rank #147, tagged as adet, pronounced \no\.

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 24450, this pair ranks #346,568 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nn vs nos

Shared letters: n. Private to "nn": -. Private to "nos": os.

"nn" · 2 letters · shape CC · "nos" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nn" for "nos" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nn" is an adverb and "nos" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary French text, does "nn" or "nos" show up more?

"nos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #147 in our French list, against #24,303 for "nn". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "nn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "nos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #346,568 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nn" and "nos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nn vs nop". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #346,568 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.