nachvsnagyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: nach is a preposition, nagy is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nach” is a preposition and “nagy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35
“nach” frequency rank
#49,111
“nagy” frequency rank
49146
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nach nagy
Definition in Richtung (mit Dativ oder adverbialer Bestimmung des Ortes) groß

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
nach
4 ch
nagy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nach is [naːx] while nagy is [nɒɟ]. 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 (preposition vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nach is recorded at frequency rank #35, classified as aprep, pronounced [naːx]. nagy is at rank #49,111, tagged as anadj, pronounced [nɒɟ].

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 49146, this pair ranks #1,222,427 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nach vs nagy

Shared letters: an. Private to "nach": ch. Private to "nagy": gy.

"nach" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "nagy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nachanch · nacch · nachh · nahc · ncah · nnach
  • nagyangy · naggy · nagyy · nayg · ngay · nnagy

Frequency comparison

nach#35
nagy#49,111

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nach" and "nagy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nach" is a preposition and "nagy" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nach" or "nagy"?
"nach" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35 in our German list, against #49,111 for "nagy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering nach vs nagy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list