namivsnãoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#44,009
“nami” frequency rank
#11
“não” frequency rank
44020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nami não
Definition caso instrumental do pronome pessoal my usado para negar verbos e adjetivos

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nami and não apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
nami
3 ch
não

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nami is apronoun and nãoanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nami is recorded at frequency rank #44,009, classified as apron. não is at rank #11, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈnɐ̃w̃/.

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 44020, this pair ranks #21,526 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nami vs não

Shared letters: n. Private to "nami": aim. Private to "não": .

"nami" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "não" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • namianmi · naim · nammi · nmai · nnami

Frequency comparison

nami#44,009
não#11

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nami" and "não" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nami" is a pronoun and "não" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nami" or "não"?
"não" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11 in our Portuguese list, against #44,009 for "nami". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering nami vs não

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list