nah vs nu, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nah” and “nu” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,820
“nah” frequency rank: #5,663
“nu” frequency rank: 32483
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nah	nu
Definition	perto	despido, em pelo, sem roupas

Where the eye mixes nah and nu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

nah

2 ch

Visual trap between nah and nu

A purely visual mix-up. nah (/naː/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and nu (/ˈnu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32483, 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 ?). nu is at rank #5,663, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈnu/.

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 32483, this pair ranks #35,316 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nah vs nu

Shared letters: n. Private to "nah": ah. Private to "nu": u.

"nah" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nu" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No. They are said differently (/naː/ ouvir^(fonte ?) versus /ˈnu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "nah" or "nu" show up more?

"nu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,663 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "nah" and "nu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "nah" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "nu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #35,316 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nah" and "nu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nah vs nami". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #35,316 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.