Na vs nur, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Na” is an abbrev and “nur” is a particle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#622
“Na” frequency rank: #40
“nur” frequency rank: 662
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Na	nur
Definition	Natrium	generell: unterstreicht die Betonung oder Einschränkung der Satzteilaussage

Letter map: Na vs nur

Shared letters muted; letters that set Na and nur apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch

3 ch

nur

Grammar separator: Na vs nur

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Na is anabbrev and nuraparticle. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 662, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Na is recorded at frequency rank #622, classified as anabbrev. nur is at rank #40, tagged as aparticle, 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 662, this pair ranks #2,005,536 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Na vs nur

Shared letters: n. Private to "Na": a. Private to "nur": ru.

"Na" · 2 letters · shape CV · "nur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Na" for "nur" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Na" is an abbrev and "nur" a particle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

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

"nur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40 in our German list, against #622 for "Na". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Na" and "nur".

Full dictionary entry for "Na" 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 #2,005,536 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"Na" and "nur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Na vs nagy". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,005,536 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.