namvsnasConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,396
“nam” frequency rank
#74
“nas” frequency rank
18470
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nam nas
Definition caso dativo do pronome pessoal my caso genitivo do pronome pessoal my

Letter map: nam vs nas

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

3 ch
nam
3 ch
nas

Corpus notes: nam and nas

nam and nas are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - m in “nam” becomes s in “nas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18470, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nam is recorded at frequency rank #18,396, classified as apron. nas is at rank #74, 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 18470, this pair ranks #52,507 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nam vs nas

Shared letters: an. Private to "nam": m. Private to "nas": s.

"nam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nam" and "nas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by a single letter - m in “nam” becomes s in “nas”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "nam" or "nas"?
"nas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #74 in our Portuguese list, against #18,396 for "nam". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "nam" and "nas". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,507 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nam" and "nas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nam vs nami". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #52,507 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