Which to use
“n” is an adverb and “né” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #585
- “n” frequency rank
- #1,856
- “né” frequency rank
- 2441
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | n | né |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | não | particípio passado do verbo naitre |
Letter map: n vs né
Shared letters muted; letters that set n and né apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for n / né
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: n is anadverb and néaverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “n” sits inside “né”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
n is recorded at frequency rank #585, classified as anadv. né is at rank #1,856, tagged as averb.
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 2441, this pair ranks #72,956 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of n vs né
Shared letters: n. Private to "n": -. Private to "né": é.
"n" · 1 letters · shape C · "né" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "n" for "né" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "n" or "né" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "n" vs "né" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "n" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "né" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,956 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "n" and "né" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "né vs nim". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #72,956 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.