Which to use
“nau” is a noun and “nous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,867
- “nau” frequency rank
- #31,892
- “nous” frequency rank
- 49759
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nau | nous |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | grande embarcação de guerra ou mercante, de tipo antigo | nós, nos, pronome pessoal da primeira pessoa do plural. |
Where the eye mixes nau and nous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. nau runs 3 letters (CVV) against nous's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: nau vs nous
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nau is /ˈnaw/ while nous is /nu/. 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nau is recorded at frequency rank #17,867, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈnaw/. nous is at rank #31,892, tagged as apron, pronounced /nu/.
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 49759, this pair ranks #15,224 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of nau vs nous
Shared letters: nu. Private to "nau": a. Private to "nous": os.
"nau" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nous ← nnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nau" for "nous" ever safe?
Which is more common, "nau" or "nous"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "nau" and "nous" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "nau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,224 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nau" and "nous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noon vs nous". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #15,224 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.