newvsnousWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: new is a adjective, nous is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“new” is an adjective and “nous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,338
“new” frequency rank
#31,892
“nous” frequency rank
33230
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature new nous
Definition novo: nós, nos, pronome pessoal da primeira pessoa do plural.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch
new
4 ch
nous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: new and nous carry the same recorded pronunciation, /nuː/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other apronoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33230, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

new is recorded at frequency rank #1,338, classified as anadj, pronounced /nuː/. 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 33230, this pair ranks #34,337 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of new vs nous

Shared letters: n. Private to "new": ew. Private to "nous": osu.

"new" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nousnnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus

Frequency comparison

new#1,338
nous#31,892

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "new" and "nous" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "new" is an adjective and "nous" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "new" or "nous"?
"new" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,338 in our Portuguese list, against #31,892 for "nous". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering new vs nous

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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