nação vs nada, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nação” is a noun and “nada” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,246
“nação” frequency rank: #92
“nada” frequency rank: 2338
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nação	nada
Definition	grupo de pessoas, com um mesmo governo e localizado num determinado espaço geográfico	não

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nação and nada apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

nação

4 ch

nada

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nação is /nɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while nada is /ˈna.də/. 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 (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2338, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nação is recorded at frequency rank #2,246, classified as anoun, pronounced /nɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. nada is at rank #92, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈna.də/.

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 2338, this pair ranks #73,071 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nação vs nada

Shared letters: an. Private to "nação": oãç. Private to "nada": d.

"nação" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "nada" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

nada ← naad · nadda · ndaa · nnada

Frequency comparison

nação#2,246

nada#92

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nação" and "nada" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "nação" or "nada"?

"nada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #92 in our Portuguese list, against #2,246 for "nação". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering nação vs nada

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “nação”; for an adverb, it's “nada”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nação” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable