nnvsnonoTell them apart

Quick tell: nn is a adverb, nono is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nn” is an adverb and “nono” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,935
“nn” frequency rank
#14,415
“nono” frequency rank
52350
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nn nono
Definition não refere-se àquele que ocupa a posição nove em uma série; o que vem depois do oitavo

Letter map: nn vs nono

Shared letters muted; letters that set nn and nono apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. nn runs 2 letters (CC) against nono's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

2 ch
nn
4 ch
nono

Grammar separator: nn vs nono

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nn is anadverb and nonoanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nn is recorded at frequency rank #37,935, classified as anadv. nono is at rank #14,415, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈno.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 52350, this pair ranks #12,818 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nn vs nono

Shared letters: n. Private to "nn": -. Private to "nono": o.

"nn" · 2 letters · shape CC  ·  "nono" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nono ← nnono · nnoo · nonno · onno

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nn" for "nono" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nn" is an adverb and "nono" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "nn" vs "nono" - which ranks higher?
"nono" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,415 in our Portuguese list, against #37,935 for "nn". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "nn" and "nono".

  • Full dictionary entry for "nn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nono" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,818 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nn" and "nono" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nn vs noon". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #12,818 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list