nuvsnuloTell them apart

Which to use

“nu” and “nulo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,663
“nu” frequency rank
#18,400
“nulo” frequency rank
24063
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nu nulo
Definition despido, em pelo, sem roupas que não existe

Where the eye mixes nu and nulo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

2 ch
nu
4 ch
nulo

Look-alike desk: nu vs nulo

A purely visual mix-up. nu (/ˈnu/) and nulo (/ˈnu.lu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “nu” sits inside “nulo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nu is recorded at frequency rank #5,663, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈnu/. nulo is at rank #18,400, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈnu.lu/.

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 24063, this pair ranks #45,646 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nu vs nulo

Shared letters: nu. Private to "nu": -. Private to "nulo": lo.

"nu" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "nulo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nulonluo · nnulo · nullo · nuol · unlo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nu" for "nulo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈnu/ versus /ˈnu.lu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "nu" vs "nulo" - which ranks higher?
"nu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,663 in our Portuguese list, against #18,400 for "nulo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "nu" and "nulo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nulo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,646 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nu" and "nulo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "null vs nulo". 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 #45,646 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