namvsnnTell them apart

Quick tell: nam is a pronoun, nn is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#18,396
“nam” frequency rank
#37,935
“nn” frequency rank
56331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nam nn
Definition caso dativo do pronome pessoal my não

Letter map: nam vs nn

Shared letters muted; letters that set nam and nn apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. nam runs 3 letters (CVC) against nn's 2 (CC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
nam
2 ch
nn

Part-of-speech tell for nam / nn

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nam is apronoun and nnanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nam is recorded at frequency rank #18,396, classified as apron. nn is at rank #37,935, tagged as anadv.

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 56331, this pair ranks #10,043 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nam vs nn

Shared letters: n. Private to "nam": am. Private to "nn": -.

"nam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nn" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nam" and "nn" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nam" is a pronoun and "nn" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "nam" vs "nn" - which ranks higher?
"nam" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,396 in our Portuguese list, against #37,935 for "nn". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,043 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nam" and "nn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nn vs noon". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #10,043 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