Which to use
“Nacken” is a noun and “nähren” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,509
- “Nacken” frequency rank
- #35,361
- “nähren” frequency rank
- 42870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Nacken | nähren |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der dorsale (rückseitige) Teil des Halses, das Genick | etwas wachsen und mehr oder bedeutender werden lassen |
Where the eye mixes Nacken and nähren
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Nacken and nähren follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: Nacken vs nähren
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Nacken is [ˈnakn̩] while nähren is [ˈnɛːʁən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Nacken is recorded at frequency rank #7,509, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈnakn̩]. nähren is at rank #35,361, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnɛːʁən].
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 42870, this pair ranks #1,435,914 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Nacken vs nähren
Shared letters: en. Private to "Nacken": ack. Private to "nähren": hrä.
"Nacken" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "nähren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- Nacken ← ancken · naccken · nacekn · nackenn · nackken · nackne · nakcen · ncaken
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Nacken" for "nähren" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Nacken" or "nähren" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Nacken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nähren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,435,914 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Nacken" and "nähren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nagen vs nähren". 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 #1,435,914 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.