nei vs nu, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nei” is a verb and “nu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,191
“nei” frequency rank: #5,663
“nu” frequency rank: 32854
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nei	nu
Definition	negar	despido, em pelo, sem roupas

Where the eye mixes nei and nu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

nei

2 ch

Visual trap between nei and nu

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nei is /ˈnɛ.i/. while nu is /ˈnu/. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nei is recorded at frequency rank #27,191, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈnɛ.i/.. nu is at rank #5,663, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈnu/.

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 32854, this pair ranks #34,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nei vs nu

Shared letters: n. Private to "nei": ei. Private to "nu": u.

"nei" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "nu" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nei" for "nu" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nei" is a verb and "nu" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "nei" or "nu"?

"nu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,663 in our Portuguese list, against #27,191 for "nei". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "nei" and "nu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "nei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "nu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #34,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nei" and "nu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nami vs nei". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #34,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.