Which to use
“nuire” is a verb and “nuit” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,468
- “nuire” frequency rank
- #356
- “nuit” frequency rank
- 7824
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nuire | nuit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Causer du tort ; porter dommage à quelque chose ou à quelqu’un. | Période qui s’écoule entre le coucher de soleil et le lever du soleil. |
Where the eye mixes nuire and nuit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses nuire with nuit
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nuire is \nɥiʁ\ while nuit 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7824, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nuire is recorded at frequency rank #7,468, classified as averb, pronounced \nɥiʁ\. nuit is at rank #356, 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 7824, this pair ranks #422,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of nuire vs nuit
Shared letters: inu. Private to "nuire": er. Private to "nuit": t.
"nuire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "nuit" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "nuire" and "nuit" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "nuire" vs "nuit" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "nuire" and "nuit" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "nuire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nuit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nuire" and "nuit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nuire vs nuitée". 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 #422,015 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.