nobrevsnombreWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: nobre is a adjective, nombre is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nobre” is an adjective and “nombre” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,708
“nobre” frequency rank
#44,996
“nombre” frequency rank
48704
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nobre nombre
Definition pertencente à nobreza número

Where the eye mixes nobre and nombre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. nobre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against nombre's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
nobre
6 ch
nombre

Why the eye confuses nobre with nombre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nobre is /ˈnɔ.bɾɨ/ while nombre is /ˈnɔm.bɾə/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48704, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nobre is recorded at frequency rank #3,708, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈnɔ.bɾɨ/. nombre is at rank #44,996, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈnɔm.bɾə/.

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 48704, this pair ranks #16,457 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nobre vs nombre

Shared letters: benor. Private to "nobre": -. Private to "nombre": m.

"nobre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "nombre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nobre ← nbore · nnobre · nobbre · nober · nobrre · norbe · onbre
  • nombre ← nmobre · nnombre · nobmre · nombbre · nomber · nombrre · nommbre · nomrbe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nobre" and "nombre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nobre" is an adjective and "nombre" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nobre" or "nombre"?
"nobre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,708 in our Portuguese list, against #44,996 for "nombre". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nobre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nombre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,457 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nobre" and "nombre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nômade vs nombre". 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 #16,457 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