Which to use
“na” is a contraction and “num” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17
- “na” frequency rank
- #234
- “num” frequency rank
- 251
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | na | num |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | contração da preposição em com o artigo definido a: | o mesmo que não |
Letter map: na vs num
Shared letters muted; letters that set na and num apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for na / num
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: na is acontraction and numanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 251, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
na is recorded at frequency rank #17, classified as acontraction, pronounced /nɐ/. num is at rank #234, tagged as anadv.
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 251, this pair ranks #75,386 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of na vs num
Shared letters: n. Private to "na": a. Private to "num": mu.
"na" · 2 letters · shape CV · "num" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "na" for "num" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "na" or "num" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "na" and "num". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "na" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "num" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #75,386 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "na" and "num" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nami vs num". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #75,386 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.