Which to use
“non” is an adverb and “nu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,793
- “non” frequency rank
- #5,663
- “nu” frequency rank
- 12456
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | non | nu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | não | despido, em pelo, sem roupas |
Letter map: non vs nu
Shared letters muted; letters that set non and nu apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for non / nu
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: non is anadverb and nuanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12456, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
non is recorded at frequency rank #6,793, classified as anadv. 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 12456, this pair ranks #60,118 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of non vs nu
Shared letters: n. Private to "non": o. Private to "nu": u.
"non" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nu" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "non" and "nu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "non" or "nu"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "non" and "nu".
- Full dictionary entry for "non" 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 #60,118 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "non" and "nu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "non vs noon". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #60,118 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.