nunca

/ˈnũ.kɐ/

//ˈnũ.kɐ// adv

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“nunca” has 7 generated spelling variants in the Portuguese index at frequency #110. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#110
frequency rank, Portuguese
360
“N” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - em nenhum tempo; jamais

Corpus desk

Index PT-nunca · nunca · Portuguese

nunca · rank #110 · 7 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #110
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 360
  • PHOTO-FINISH dois

Nearest frequency peer: dois (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pares de rank junto ao íman ortográfico “nunca”

Mesma faixa de raridade: útil se um typo cair num lema vizinho

corpus weight

What this shows “nunca” está entre estes pares FrequencyWords; a profundidade de typo mede-se à parte no gráfico de distância de edição.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

nunca vs nua
60% similar
nunca vs nun
60% similar
nunca vs nuca
80% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for nunca
PropertyValue
Headwordnunca
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdverb
IPA/ˈnũ.kɐ/
Letters5
Frequency rank#110
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequência do íman ortográfico “nunca”

Da esquerda para a direita: o pouco que carrega a fala diária, depois a cauda longa quase invisível.nuncacai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Os ticks avançam em logaritmo; cada um é da ordem de dez vezes mais raro. Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “dois” (#109), “todo” (#111), “1” (#108). Entre 360 lemas com “N”, “nunca” fica em #110. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around nunca (IPA /ˈnũ.kɐ/), anadverb. Corpus frequency is #110 among 360 “N” headwords. Dominant gloss: "em nenhum tempo; jamais".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for nunca, with forms such as "nnuca", "nnunca", and "nucna". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "nua", "nun", "nuca", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Portuguese form is nunca, spelled N-U-N-C-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    em nenhum tempo; jamais

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how nunca appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Em todas as outras, os peronistas nunca conseguiram conquistar os corações e mentes dos moradores da capital.

Synonyms

jamaisjaménanja

Antonyms

sempre

This word in other languages

never(English)nunca(Español)jamais(Français)nie(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • nnuca
  • nnunca
  • nucna
  • nunac
  • nuncca
  • nunnca
  • unnca

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of nunca - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

nnuca2nnunca1nucna2nunac2nuncca1nunnca1unnca2
Edit distance from "nunca"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "nunca"?
"nunca" is spelled N-U-N-C-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈnũ.kɐ/.
What does "nunca" mean?
As an adverb, "nunca" means: em nenhum tempo; jamais
What words are commonly confused with "nunca"?
"nunca" is commonly confused with "nua", "nun", "nuca". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "nunca"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nunca" is /ˈnũ.kɐ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "nunca" come from?
"nunca" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "nunca", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

parte#114coisa#105então#120foram#97

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

tenho7 variantstempo7 variantsmundo7 variantsentre7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list