nonovsnunWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#14,415
“nono” frequency rank
#39,280
“nun” frequency rank
53695
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nono nun
Definition refere-se àquele que ocupa a posição nove em uma série; o que vem depois do oitavo agora, neste momento:

Where the eye mixes nono and nun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. nono runs 4 letters (CVCV) against nun's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
nono
3 ch
nun

Visual trap between nono and nun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nono is /ˈno.nu/ while nun is /ˈnuːn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nono is recorded at frequency rank #14,415, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈno.nu/. 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 53695, this pair ranks #11,852 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nono vs nun

Shared letters: n. Private to "nono": o. Private to "nun": u.

"nono" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "nun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nono ← nnono · nnoo · nonno · onno

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nono" and "nun" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nono" is an adjective and "nun" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nono" or "nun"?
"nono" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,415 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

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nono" 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 #11,852 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nono" and "nun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noon vs nun". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #11,852 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