nome vs nous, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“nome” is a noun and “nous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#153
“nome” frequency rank: #31,892
“nous” frequency rank: 32045
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nome	nous
Definition	termo para designar, distinguir ou qualificar pessoa, coisa, lugar, situação ou sentimento	nós, nos, pronome pessoal da primeira pessoa do plural.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

nome

4 ch

nous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nome is /ˈno.mɨ/ while nous is /nu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32045, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nome is recorded at frequency rank #153, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈno.mɨ/. nous is at rank #31,892, tagged as apron, pronounced /nu/.

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 32045, this pair ranks #35,863 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nome vs nous

Shared letters: no. Private to "nome": em. Private to "nous": su.

"nome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

nome ← nmoe · nnome · noem · nomme · onme
nous ← nnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus

Frequency comparison

nome#153

nous#31,892

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nome" and "nous" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nome" is a noun and "nous" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "nome" or "nous"?

"nome" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #153 in our Portuguese list, against #31,892 for "nous". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering nome vs nous

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “nome”; for a pronoun, it's “nous”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nome” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable