Which to use
“nurse” is a noun and “nus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,600
- “nurse” frequency rank
- #7,091
- “nus” frequency rank
- 51691
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nurse | nus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne qui s’occupe de jeunes enfants. | Masculin pluriel de nu. |
Where the eye mixes nurse and nus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. nurse runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against nus's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: nurse vs nus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nurse is \nœʁs\ while nus is \ny\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nurse is recorded at frequency rank #44,600, classified as anoun, pronounced \nœʁs\. 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 51691, this pair ranks #153,144 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of nurse vs nus
Shared letters: nsu. Private to "nurse": er. Private to "nus": -.
"nurse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "nus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nurse ← nnurse · nruse · nures · nurrse · nursse · nusre · unrse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nurse" for "nus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "nurse" vs "nus" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "nurse" 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 #153,144 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nurse" and "nus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noise vs nurse". 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 #153,144 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.