nom vs non, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nom” is a noun and “non” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,251
“nom” frequency rank: #6,793
“non” frequency rank: 28044
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nom	non
Definition	nome	não

Letter map: nom vs non

Shared letters muted; letters that set nom and non apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch

nom

3 ch

non

Grammar separator: nom vs non

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nom is anoun and nonanadverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - m in “nom” becomes n in “non”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28044, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nom is recorded at frequency rank #21,251, classified as anoun. non is at rank #6,793, tagged as anadv.

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 28044, this pair ranks #40,835 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nom vs non

Shared letters: no. Private to "nom": m. Private to "non": -.

"nom" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "non" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nom" and "non" mean the same thing in a sentence?

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

Which is more common, "nom" or "non"?

"non" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,793 in our Portuguese list, against #21,251 for "nom". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "nom" and "non". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "nom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "non" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #40,835 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nom" and "non" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nom vs noon". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #40,835 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.