na vs nem, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#17
“na” frequency rank: #121
“nem” frequency rank: 138
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	na	nem
Definition	contração da preposição em com o artigo definido a:	não

Where the eye mixes na and nem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

3 ch

nem

Visual trap between na and nem

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: na is /nɐ/ while nem is /ˈnɐ̃j̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 138, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

na is recorded at frequency rank #17, classified as acontraction, pronounced /nɐ/. nem is at rank #121, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈnɐ̃j̃/.

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 138, this pair ranks #75,517 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of na vs nem

Shared letters: n. Private to "na": a. Private to "nem": em.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "na" for "nem" ever safe?

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

Frequency check: "na" vs "nem" - which ranks higher?

"na" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17 in our Portuguese list, against #121 for "nem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "na" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "nem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #75,517 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"na" and "nem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nami vs nem". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #75,517 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.