noivsnuConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#36,563
“noi” frequency rank
#5,663
“nu” frequency rank
42226
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature noi nu
Definition nós despido, em pelo, sem roupas

Letter map: noi vs nu

Shared letters muted; letters that set noi and nu apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
noi
2 ch
nu

Part-of-speech tell for noi / nu

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: noi is apronoun and nuanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

noi is recorded at frequency rank #36,563, classified as apron. nu is at rank #5,663, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈnu/.

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 42226, this pair ranks #23,586 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of noi vs nu

Shared letters: n. Private to "noi": io. Private to "nu": u.

"noi" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "nu" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "noi" and "nu" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "noi" is a pronoun and "nu" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "noi" vs "nu" - which ranks higher?
"nu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,663 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.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "noi" and "nu".

  • Full dictionary entry for "noi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,586 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "noi" and "nu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noi vs noon". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #23,586 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