navsnasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: na is a contraction, nas is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“na” is a contraction and “nas” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17
“na” frequency rank
#74
“nas” frequency rank
91
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature na nas
Definition contração da preposição em com o artigo definido a: caso genitivo do pronome pessoal my

Letter map: na vs nas

Shared letters muted; letters that set na and nas apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

2 ch
na
3 ch
nas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: na is acontraction and nasapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “na” sits inside “nas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

na is recorded at frequency rank #17, classified as acontraction, pronounced /nɐ/. nas is at rank #74, tagged as apron.

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 91, this pair ranks #75,563 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of na vs nas

Shared letters: an. Private to "na": -. Private to "nas": s.

"na" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "nas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "na" and "nas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "na" is a contraction and "nas" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "na" or "nas"?
"na" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17 in our Portuguese list, against #74 for "nas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list