nuesvsnuitsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: nues is a adjective, nuits is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nues” is an adjective and “nuits” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,205
“nues” frequency rank
#3,627
“nuits” frequency rank
12832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nues nuits
Definition Féminin pluriel de nu. Pluriel de nuit.

Where the eye mixes nues and nuits

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

4 ch
nues
5 ch
nuits

Why the eye confuses nues with nuits

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nues is \ny\ while nuits is \nɥi\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nues is recorded at frequency rank #9,205, classified as anadj, pronounced \ny\. nuits is at rank #3,627, tagged as anoun, pronounced \nɥi\.

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 12832, this pair ranks #403,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nues vs nuits

Shared letters: nsu. Private to "nues": e. Private to "nuits": it.

"nues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "nuits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nues ← neus · nnues · nuess · nuse
  • nuits ← niuts · nnuits · nuist · nuitss · nuitts · nutis · units

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nues" and "nuits" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nues" is an adjective and "nuits" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nues" or "nuits"?
"nuits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,627 in our French list, against #9,205 for "nues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "nues" and "nuits" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nuits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #403,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nues" and "nuits" 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 #403,572 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