nadovsnamConfusable pair

Quick tell: nado is a adjective, nam is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nado” is an adjective and “nam” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,371
“nado” frequency rank
#18,396
“nam” frequency rank
38767
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nado nam
Definition nascido, nato caso dativo do pronome pessoal my

Letter map: nado vs nam

Shared letters muted; letters that set nado and nam apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
nado
3 ch
nam

Grammar separator: nado vs nam

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nado is anadjective and namapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nado is recorded at frequency rank #20,371, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈna.du/. nam is at rank #18,396, tagged as apron.

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 38767, this pair ranks #27,618 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nado vs nam

Shared letters: an. Private to "nado": do. Private to "nam": m.

"nado" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "nam" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nadoando · naddo · naod · ndao · nnado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nado" and "nam" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nado" is an adjective and "nam" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "nado" vs "nam" - which ranks higher?
"nam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,396 in our Portuguese list, against #20,371 for "nado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "nado" and "nam".

  • Full dictionary entry for "nado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,618 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nado" and "nam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nadie vs nado". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #27,618 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list