nn vs no, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nn” is an adverb and “no” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,935
“nn” frequency rank: #15
“no” frequency rank: 37950
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nn	no
Definition	não	forma enclítica do pronome o quando precedido de forma verbal terminada em som nasal

Letter map: nn vs no

Shared letters muted; letters that set nn and no apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch

Grammar separator: nn vs no

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nn is anadverb and noapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - n in “nn” becomes o in “no”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nn is recorded at frequency rank #37,935, classified as anadv. no is at rank #15, tagged as apron.

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 37950, this pair ranks #28,584 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nn vs no

Shared letters: n. Private to "nn": -. Private to "no": o.

"nn" · 2 letters · shape CC · "no" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nn" and "no" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nn" is an adverb and "no" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "nn" vs "no" - which ranks higher?

"no" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15 in our Portuguese list, against #37,935 for "nn". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "nn" and "no". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "nn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "no" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #28,584 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nn" and "no" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nn vs noon". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #28,584 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.