nahvsnunConfusable pair

Quick tell: nah is a adjective, nun is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nah” is an adjective and “nun” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,353
“nah” frequency rank
#130
“nun” frequency rank
2483
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nah nun
Definition räumlich wenig entfernt zu diesem Zeitpunkt, zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt, in dem Moment

Where the eye mixes nah and nun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
nah
3 ch
nun

Look-alike desk: nah vs nun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nah is [naː] while nun is [nuːn]. 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 (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2483, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nah is recorded at frequency rank #2,353, classified as anadj, pronounced [naː]. nun is at rank #130, tagged as anadv, pronounced [nuːn].

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 2483, this pair ranks #2,002,246 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nah vs nun

Shared letters: n. Private to "nah": ah. Private to "nun": u.

"nah" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nah" and "nun" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nah" is an adjective and "nun" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "nah" vs "nun" - which ranks higher?
"nun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #130 in our German list, against #2,353 for "nah". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "nah" and "nun" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nah" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,002,246 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nah" and "nun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nagy vs nah". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,002,246 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