nulvsnusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,417
“nul” frequency rank
#7,091
“nus” frequency rank
8508
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nul nus
Definition Égal à zéro, en parlant d’un nombre, d’une grandeur ou d’une valeur. Masculin pluriel de nu.

Where the eye mixes nul and nus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
nul
3 ch
nus

Look-alike desk: nul vs nus

A purely visual mix-up. nul (\nyl\) and nus (\ny\) 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 a single letter - l in “nul” becomes s in “nus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8508, 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\. nus is at rank #7,091, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ny\.

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 8508, this pair ranks #419,791 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nul vs nus

Shared letters: nu. Private to "nul": l. Private to "nus": s.

"nul" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nul" for "nus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\nyl\ versus \ny\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "nul" vs "nus" - which ranks higher?
"nul" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,417 in our French list, against #7,091 for "nus". 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 "nul" and "nus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nul" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #419,791 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nul" and "nus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noués vs nus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #419,791 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