nun vs nur, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#39,280
“nun” frequency rank: #35,702
“nur” frequency rank: 74982
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	nun	nur
Definition	agora, neste momento:	apenas, somente, meramente

Where the eye mixes nun and nur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. nun and nur follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch

nun

3 ch

nur

Visual trap between nun and nur

A purely visual mix-up. nun (/ˈnuːn/) and nur (/nuːɐ̯/) 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 a single letter - n in “nun” becomes r in “nur”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nun is recorded at frequency rank #39,280, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈnuːn/. nur is at rank #35,702, tagged as anadv, pronounced /nuːɐ̯/.

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 74982, this pair ranks #2,398 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nun vs nur

Shared letters: nu. Private to "nun": -. Private to "nur": r.

"nun" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "nur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nun" and "nur" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈnuːn/ versus /nuːɐ̯/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "nun" vs "nur" - which ranks higher?

"nur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,702 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.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "nun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "nur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #2,398 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"nun" and "nur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noon vs nun". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,398 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.