nação vs não, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,246
“nação” frequency rank: #11
“não” frequency rank: 2257
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nação	não
Definition	grupo de pessoas, com um mesmo governo e localizado num determinado espaço geográfico	usado para negar verbos e adjetivos

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nação and não apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

nação

3 ch

não

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nação is /nɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while não is /ˈnɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 2257, 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/. não is at rank #11, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈnɐ̃w̃/.

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 2257, this pair ranks #73,184 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nação vs não

Shared letters: noã. Private to "nação": aç. Private to "não": -.

"nação" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "não" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

nação#2,246

não#11

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"não" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11 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 não

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 “não”.
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