nahvsnutWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: nah is a adjective, nut is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#2,353
“nah” frequency rank
#36,531
“nut” frequency rank
38884
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nah nut
Definition räumlich wenig entfernt 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs nuten

Where the eye mixes nah and nut

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

3 ch
nah
3 ch
nut

Why the eye confuses nah with nut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nah is [naː] while nut is [nuːt]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38884, 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]. nut is at rank #36,531, tagged as averb, pronounced [nuːt].

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 38884, this pair ranks #1,552,085 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nah vs nut

Shared letters: n. Private to "nah": ah. Private to "nut": tu.

"nah" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "nut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nah" for "nut" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nah" is an adjective and "nut" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "nah" vs "nut" - which ranks higher?
"nah" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,353 in our German list, against #36,531 for "nut". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nah" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,552,085 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nah" and "nut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nox vs nut". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,552,085 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