nuesvsnullesConfusable pair

Which to use

“nues” and “nulles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,205
“nues” frequency rank
#18,810
“nulles” frequency rank
28015
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nues nulles
Definition Féminin pluriel de nu. Féminin pluriel de nul.

Where the eye mixes nues and nulles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
nues
6 ch
nulles

Look-alike desk: nues vs nulles

A purely visual mix-up. nues (\ny\) and nulles (\nyl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28015, 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\. nulles is at rank #18,810, tagged as anadj, pronounced \nyl\.

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 28015, this pair ranks #325,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nues vs nulles

Shared letters: ensu. Private to "nues": -. Private to "nulles": l.

"nues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "nulles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nuesneus · nnues · nuess · nuse
  • nullesnlules · nnulles · nulels · nules · nulless · nullse · unlles

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nues" and "nulles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ny\ versus \nyl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "nues" vs "nulles" - which ranks higher?
"nues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,205 in our French list, against #18,810 for "nulles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nulles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #325,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nues" and "nulles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Nelle vs nulles". 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 #325,406 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