nudevsnuireConfusable pair

Quick tell: nude is a noun, nuire is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nude” is a noun and “nuire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,514
“nude” frequency rank
#7,468
“nuire” frequency rank
43982
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nude nuire
Definition Photo ou vidéo exposant un ou plusieurs corps nus ou partiellement dénudés et sexualisés. Causer du tort ; porter dommage à quelque chose ou à quelqu’un.

Where the eye mixes nude and nuire

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. nude runs 4 letters (CVCV) against nuire's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
nude
5 ch
nuire

Why the eye confuses nude with nuire

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nude is \njud\ while nuire is \nɥiʁ\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nude is recorded at frequency rank #36,514, classified as anoun, pronounced \njud\. nuire is at rank #7,468, tagged as averb, pronounced \nɥiʁ\.

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 43982, this pair ranks #213,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nude vs nuire

Shared letters: enu. Private to "nude": d. Private to "nuire": ir.

"nude" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "nuire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nude ← ndue · nnude · nudde · nued · unde
  • nuire ← niure · nnuire · nuier · nuirre · nurie · unire

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nude" and "nuire" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nude" is a noun and "nuire" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nude" or "nuire"?
"nuire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,468 in our French list, against #36,514 for "nude". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nude" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nuire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #213,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nude" and "nuire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nome vs nude". 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 #213,937 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list