nah vs name, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#26,820
“nah” frequency rank: #8,931
“name” frequency rank: 35751
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nah	name
Definition	perto	nome

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

nah

4 ch

name

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nah is /naː/ ouvir^(fonte ?) while name is /neɪm/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35751, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nah is recorded at frequency rank #26,820, classified as anadj, pronounced /naː/ ouvir^(fonte ?). name is at rank #8,931, tagged as anoun, pronounced /neɪm/.

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 35751, this pair ranks #31,248 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nah vs name

Shared letters: an. Private to "nah": h. Private to "name": em.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

name ← anme · naem · namme · nmae · nname

Frequency comparison

nah#26,820

name#8,931

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"name" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,931 in our Portuguese list, against #26,820 for "nah". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering nah vs name

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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