NagervsNegerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Nager” and “Neger” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,815
“Nager” frequency rank
#12,351
“Neger” frequency rank
57166
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Nager Neger
Definition Säugetier (Ordnung Rodentia) mit langen, ständig nachwachsenden Schneidezähnen ein dunkelhäutiger Mensch subsaharischer Abstammung

Where the eye mixes Nager and Neger

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Nager and Neger follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
Nager
5 ch
Neger

Visual trap between Nager and Neger

A purely visual mix-up. Nager ([ˈnaːɡɐ]) and Neger ([ˈneːɡɐ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “Nager” becomes e in “Neger”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Nager is recorded at frequency rank #44,815, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈnaːɡɐ]. Neger is at rank #12,351, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈneːɡɐ].

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 57166, this pair ranks #911,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Nager vs Neger

Shared letters: egnr. Private to "Nager": a. Private to "Neger": -.

"Nager" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Neger" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Nager ← naegr · nagerr · nagger · nagre · ngaer · nnager
  • Neger ← neegr · negerr · negger · negre · ngeer · nneger

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Nager" and "Neger" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnaːɡɐ] versus [ˈneːɡɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Nager" vs "Neger" - which ranks higher?
"Neger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,351 in our German list, against #44,815 for "Nager". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Nager" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Neger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #911,909 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Nager" and "Neger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nagen vs Nager". 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 #911,909 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