Meaning & use
nobody vs no one
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phrase
A comparison of two ways of saying 'no person', which differ mainly in formality and spelling.
Grammar: Both take a singular verb: nobody knows, no one knows.
Patterns
- nobody knows
- no one knows
Nobody came to the early meeting, and no one came to the late one either.
In formal writing, 'no one' is often preferred over 'nobody'.
Remember that 'no one' is two words; 'noone' is not correct English.
Common combinations
- nobody knows
- Nobody knows why the shop closed so suddenly.
- no one else
- No one else in the class had read the book.
- nobody at all
- There was nobody at all in the office that afternoon.
- no one in particular
- She was not waiting for no one in particular — just passing the time.
Synonyms and how they differ
- not anybody
- More emphatic and usually needs a negative verb, as in 'I didn't see anybody'.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: nobody vs no one or noone? nobody vs no one or none?
nobody vs no one vs noone
A common misspelling. English always writes 'no one' as two separate words.
nobody vs no one vs none
'None' means 'not any' and can refer to things as well as people, as in 'none of the food'.
Practice
Which sentence is correctly written?
Choose one answer.
'No one' is always two words and takes a singular verb, so option B is right. Option A uses the incorrect spelling 'noone', and option C wrongly uses a plural verb with 'nobody'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nobody vs no one”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.