n vs nu, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“n” is an adverb and “nu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#585
“n” frequency rank: #5,663
“nu” frequency rank: 6248
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	n	nu
Definition	não	despido, em pelo, sem roupas

Letter map: n vs nu

Shared letters muted; letters that set n and nu apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

1 ch

2 ch

Grammar separator: n vs nu

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: n is anadverb and nuanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “n” sits inside “nu”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6248, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

n is recorded at frequency rank #585, classified as anadv. nu is at rank #5,663, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈnu/.

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 6248, this pair ranks #68,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of n vs nu

Shared letters: n. Private to "n": -. Private to "nu": u.

"n" · 1 letters · shape C · "nu" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "n" and "nu" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "n" is an adverb and "nu" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "n" or "nu"?

"n" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #585 in our Portuguese list, against #5,663 for "nu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "n" and "nu".

Full dictionary entry for "n" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "nu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #68,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"n" and "nu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nu vs null". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #68,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.