Which to use
“nul” is an adjective and “nulle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,417
- “nul” frequency rank
- #2,529
- “nulle” frequency rank
- 3946
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nul | nulle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Égal à zéro, en parlant d’un nombre, d’une grandeur ou d’une valeur. | Celle qui est nulle. |
Same sound, different letters: nul vs nulle
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Homophone desk: nul vs nulle
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: nul and nulle carry the same recorded pronunciation, \nyl\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “nul” sits inside “nulle”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nul is recorded at frequency rank #1,417, classified as anadj, pronounced \nyl\. nulle is at rank #2,529, tagged as anoun, 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 3946, this pair ranks #432,825 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of nul vs nulle
Shared letters: lnu. Private to "nul": -. Private to "nulle": e.
"nul" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nulle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- nulle ← nlule · nnulle · nule · nulel · unlle
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "nul" and "nulle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "nul" or "nulle"?
What to do next
"nul" and "nulle" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "nul" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nulle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,825 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nul" and "nulle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nop vs nul". 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 #432,825 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.