nagyvsnaheWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#49,111
“nagy” frequency rank
#1,064
“nahe” frequency rank
50175
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nagy nahe
Definition groß räumlich nahe, wenig entfernt

Where the eye mixes nagy and nahe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. nagy and nahe follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
nagy
4 ch
nahe

Look-alike desk: nagy vs nahe

A purely visual mix-up. nagy ([nɒɟ]) and nahe ([ˈnaːə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50175, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nagy is recorded at frequency rank #49,111, classified as anadj, pronounced [nɒɟ]. nahe is at rank #1,064, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnaːə].

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 50175, this pair ranks #1,183,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nagy vs nahe

Shared letters: an. Private to "nagy": gy. Private to "nahe": eh.

"nagy" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "nahe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nagy ← angy · naggy · nagyy · nayg · ngay · nnagy
  • nahe ← anhe · naeh · nahhe · nhae · nnahe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nagy" for "nahe" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([nɒɟ] versus [ˈnaːə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "nagy" or "nahe"?
"nahe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,064 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nagy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nahe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,183,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nagy" and "nahe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nagen vs nagy". 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 #1,183,749 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