Which to use
“né” is a verb and “nn” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,856
- “né” frequency rank
- #37,935
- “nn” frequency rank
- 39791
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | né | nn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | particípio passado do verbo naitre | não |
Letter map: né vs nn
Shared letters muted; letters that set né and nn apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for né / nn
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: né is averb and nnanadverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - é in “né” becomes n in “nn”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39791, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
né is recorded at frequency rank #1,856, classified as averb. 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 39791, this pair ranks #26,413 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of né vs nn
Shared letters: n. Private to "né": é. Private to "nn": -.
"né" · 2 letters · shape CV · "nn" · 2 letters · shape CC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "né" and "nn" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "né" or "nn" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "né" vs "nn" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "né" 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 #26,413 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "né" and "nn" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nn vs noon". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #26,413 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.