nous vs nove, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#31,892
“nous” frequency rank: #1,500
“nove” frequency rank: 33392
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nous	nove
Definition	nós, nos, pronome pessoal da primeira pessoa do plural.	número equivalente a oito mais um; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha nove elementos distintos; representado pelo símbolo 9 (algarismos arábicos) ou IX (algarismos romanos)

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

nous

4 ch

nove

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nous is /nu/ while nove is /ˈnɔ.vɨ/. 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 (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33392, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nous is recorded at frequency rank #31,892, classified as apron, pronounced /nu/. nove is at rank #1,500, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈnɔ.vɨ/.

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 33392, this pair ranks #34,154 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nous vs nove

Shared letters: no. Private to "nous": su. Private to "nove": ev.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

nous ← nnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus
nove ← nnove · noev · novve · nvoe · onve

Frequency comparison

nous#31,892

nove#1,500

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"nove" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,500 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 nous vs nove

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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