nom vs num, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#21,251
“nom” frequency rank: #234
“num” frequency rank: 21485
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nom	num
Definition	nome	o mesmo que não

Letter map: nom vs num

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

3 ch

nom

3 ch

num

Role in the sentence - nom and num

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nom is anoun and numanadverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - o in “nom” becomes u in “num”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21485, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nom is recorded at frequency rank #21,251, classified as anoun. num is at rank #234, 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 21485, this pair ranks #48,760 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nom vs num

Shared letters: mn. Private to "nom": o. Private to "num": u.

"nom" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "num" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nom" for "num" ever safe?

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

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

"num" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #234 in our Portuguese list, against #21,251 for "nom". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "nom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "num" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #48,760 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nom" and "num" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nom vs noon". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #48,760 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.