nada vs nah, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#92
“nada” frequency rank: #26,820
“nah” frequency rank: 26912
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nada	nah
Definition	não	perto

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

nada

3 ch

nah

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nada is /ˈna.də/ while nah is /naː/ ouvir^(fonte ?). 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 (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nada is recorded at frequency rank #92, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈna.də/. 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 26912, this pair ranks #42,146 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nada vs nah

Shared letters: an. Private to "nada": d. Private to "nah": h.

"nada" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "nah" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

nada ← naad · nadda · ndaa · nnada

Frequency comparison

nada#92

nah#26,820

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"nada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #92 in our Portuguese list, against #26,820 for "nah". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering nada vs nah

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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