nachsehenvsnächstenTell them apart

Quick tell: nachsehen is a verb, nächsten is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nachsehen” is a verb and “nächsten” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,370
“nachsehen” frequency rank
#436
“nächsten” frequency rank
14806
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nachsehen nächsten
Definition nach Information suchen, eine Recherche durchführen, etwas verifizieren Superlativ Prädikativ des Adjektivs nah

Where the eye mixes nachsehen and nächsten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. nachsehen runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCVC) against nächsten's 8 (CVCCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
nachsehen
8 ch
nächsten

Look-alike desk: nachsehen vs nächsten

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nachsehen is [ˈnaːxˌzeːən] while nächsten is [ˈnɛːçstən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14806, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nachsehen is recorded at frequency rank #14,370, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈnaːxˌzeːən]. nächsten is at rank #436, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɛːçstən].

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 14806, this pair ranks #1,948,597 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nachsehen vs nächsten

Shared letters: cehns. Private to "nachsehen": a. Private to "nächsten": tä.

"nachsehen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC  ·  "nächsten" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nachsehen ← anchsehen · nacchsehen · nacheshen · nachhsehen · nachseehn · nachsehenn · nachsehhen · nachsehne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nachsehen" and "nächsten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nachsehen" is a verb and "nächsten" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "nachsehen" or "nächsten" show up more?
"nächsten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #436 in our German list, against #14,370 for "nachsehen". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nachsehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nächsten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,948,597 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nachsehen" and "nächsten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nachsehen vs nachzusehen". 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 #1,948,597 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list