nn vs nos, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#37,935
“nn” frequency rank: #42
“nos” frequency rank: 37977
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nn	nos
Definition	não	a nós

Letter map: nn vs nos

Shared letters muted; letters that set nn and nos apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch

3 ch

nos

Part-of-speech tell for nn / nos

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nn is anadverb and nosapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37977, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nn is recorded at frequency rank #37,935, classified as anadv. nos is at rank #42, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈnuʃ/.

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 37977, this pair ranks #28,554 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nn vs nos

Shared letters: n. Private to "nn": -. Private to "nos": os.

"nn" · 2 letters · shape CC · "nos" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nn" for "nos" ever safe?

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

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "nn" or "nos" show up more?

"nos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42 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

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

Full dictionary entry for "nn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "nos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #28,554 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nn" and "nos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nn vs noon". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #28,554 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.