vsnurWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: is a verb, nur is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“né” is a verb and “nur” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,856
“né” frequency rank
#35,702
“nur” frequency rank
37558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nur
Definition particípio passado do verbo naitre apenas, somente, meramente

Where the spellings diverge

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

2 ch
né
3 ch
nur

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: is averb and nuranadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

is recorded at frequency rank #1,856, classified as averb. nur is at rank #35,702, tagged as anadv, pronounced /nuːɐ̯/.

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 37558, this pair ranks #29,036 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of né vs nur

Shared letters: n. Private to "né": é. Private to "nur": ru.

"né" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "nur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

#1,856
nur#35,702

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "né" and "nur" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "né" is a verb and "nur" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "né" or "nur"?
"né" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,856 in our Portuguese list, against #35,702 for "nur". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering né vs nur

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “né”; for an adverb, it's “nur”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “né” 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