nad vs nau, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nad” is a preposition and “nau” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,954
“nad” frequency rank: #17,867
“nau” frequency rank: 51821
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nad	nau
Definition	em cima, acima de	grande embarcação de guerra ou mercante, de tipo antigo

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

nad

3 ch

nau

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nad is /ˈnat/ ouvir^(fonte ?) while nau is /ˈnaw/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “nad” becomes u in “nau”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51821, 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 ?). nau is at rank #17,867, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈnaw/.

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 51821, this pair ranks #13,283 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nad vs nau

Shared letters: an. Private to "nad": d. Private to "nau": u.

"nad" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nau" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

nad#33,954

nau#17,867

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nad" and "nau" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nad" is a preposition and "nau" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "nad" or "nau"?

"nau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,867 in our Portuguese list, against #33,954 for "nad". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering nad vs nau

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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