Which to use
“nu” and “nues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,697
- “nu” frequency rank
- #9,205
- “nues” frequency rank
- 12902
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nu | nues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’a pas de vêtements, qui est dévêtu. | Féminin pluriel de nu. |
Same sound, different letters: nu vs nues
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - nu / nues
This is the hard kind. nu and nues are pronounced identically (\ny\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “nu” sits inside “nues”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nu is recorded at frequency rank #3,697, classified as anadj, pronounced \ny\. 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 12902, this pair ranks #403,274 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of nu vs nues
Shared letters: nu. Private to "nu": -. Private to "nues": es.
"nu" · 2 letters · shape CV · "nues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nues ← neus · nnues · nuess · nuse
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "nu" and "nues" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "nu" or "nues" show up more?
After this comparison
"nu" and "nues" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "nu" 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 #403,274 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nu" 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 #403,274 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.