Which to use
“nous” is a pronoun and “nus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #50
- “nous” frequency rank
- #7,091
- “nus” frequency rank
- 7141
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nous | nus |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Masculin pluriel de nu. |
Where the eye mixes nous and nus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: nous vs nus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nous is \nu\ while nus is \ny\. 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 (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7141, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nous is recorded at frequency rank #50, classified as apron, pronounced \nu\. nus is at rank #7,091, 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 7141, this pair ranks #424,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of nous vs nus
Shared letters: nsu. Private to "nous": o. Private to "nus": -.
"nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "nus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nous ← nnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nous" for "nus" ever safe?
Which is more common, "nous" or "nus"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "nous" and "nus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "nous" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #424,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nous" and "nus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noués vs nus". 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 #424,099 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.