Which to use
“nous” is a pronoun and “nues” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #50
- “nous” frequency rank
- #9,205
- “nues” frequency rank
- 9255
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nous | nues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Féminin pluriel de nu. |
Where the eye mixes nous and nues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses nous with nues
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nous is \nu\ while nues is \ny\. 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9255, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nous is recorded at frequency rank #50, classified as apron, pronounced \nu\. nues is at rank #9,205, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ny\.
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 9255, this pair ranks #417,281 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of nous vs nues
Shared letters: nsu. Private to "nous": o. Private to "nues": e.
"nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "nues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "nous" and "nues" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "nous" or "nues" show up more?
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 "nous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #417,281 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nous" and "nues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noués vs nues". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #417,281 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.