nomvsnunTell them apart

Quick tell: nom is a noun, nun is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#21,251
“nom” frequency rank
#39,280
“nun” frequency rank
60531
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nom nun
Definition nome agora, neste momento:

Letter map: nom vs nun

Shared letters muted; letters that set nom and nun apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. nom and nun follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
nom
3 ch
nun

Grammar separator: nom vs nun

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nom is anoun and nunanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nom is recorded at frequency rank #21,251, classified as anoun. nun is at rank #39,280, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈnuːn/.

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 60531, this pair ranks #7,601 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nom vs nun

Shared letters: n. Private to "nom": mo. Private to "nun": u.

"nom" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nom" for "nun" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nom" is a noun and "nun" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "nom" or "nun" show up more?
"nom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,251 in our Portuguese list, against #39,280 for "nun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,601 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nom" and "nun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noon vs nun". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #7,601 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