Which to use
“nad” is a preposition and “nah” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,954
- “nad” frequency rank
- #26,820
- “nah” frequency rank
- 60774
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nad | nah |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | em cima, acima de | perto |
Where the eye mixes nad and nah
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. nad and nah follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses nad with nah
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nad is /ˈnat/ ouvir^(fonte ?) while nah is /naː/ ouvir^(fonte ?). Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “nad” becomes h in “nah”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60774, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nad is recorded at frequency rank #33,954, classified as aprep, pronounced /ˈnat/ ouvir^(fonte ?). nah is at rank #26,820, tagged as anadj, pronounced /naː/ ouvir^(fonte ?).
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 60774, this pair ranks #7,491 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of nad vs nah
Shared letters: an. Private to "nad": d. Private to "nah": h.
"nad" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nah" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "nad" and "nah" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "nad" vs "nah" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "nad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nah" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,491 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nad" and "nah" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nad vs nadie". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #7,491 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.