Which to use
“na” is a contraction and “nos” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17
- “na” frequency rank
- #42
- “nos” frequency rank
- 59
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | na | nos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | contração da preposição em com o artigo definido a: | a nós |
Where the eye mixes na and nos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: na is /nɐ/ while nos is /ˈnuʃ/. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
na is recorded at frequency rank #17, classified as acontraction, pronounced /nɐ/. nos is at rank #42, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈnuʃ/.
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 59, this pair ranks #75,589 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of na vs nos
Shared letters: n. Private to "na": a. Private to "nos": os.
"na" · 2 letters · shape CV · "nos" · 3 letters · shape CVC