noivsnowWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: noi is a pronoun, now is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#36,563
“noi” frequency rank
#5,122
“now” frequency rank
41685
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature noi now
Definition nós agora

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set noi and now apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
noi
3 ch
now

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: noi is apronoun and nowanadverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - i in “noi” becomes w in “now”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41685, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

noi is recorded at frequency rank #36,563, classified as apron. now is at rank #5,122, tagged as anadv, pronounced /naʊ/.

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 41685, this pair ranks #24,197 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of noi vs now

Shared letters: no. Private to "noi": i. Private to "now": w.

"noi" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "now" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

noi#36,563
now#5,122

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "noi" and "now" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "noi" is a pronoun and "now" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "noi" or "now"?
"now" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,122 in our Portuguese list, against #36,563 for "noi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering noi vs now

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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