nahevsNahtTell them apart

Quick tell: nahe is a adjective, Naht is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nahe” is an adjective and “Naht” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,064
“nahe” frequency rank
#12,136
“Naht” frequency rank
13200
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nahe Naht
Definition räumlich nahe, wenig entfernt Linie, wo sich zwei durch Nähen verbundene Stoffe berühren

Where the eye mixes nahe and Naht

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
nahe
4 ch
Naht

Look-alike desk: nahe vs Naht

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nahe is [ˈnaːə] while Naht is [naːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “nahe” becomes t in “Naht”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13200, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nahe is recorded at frequency rank #1,064, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈnaːə]. Naht is at rank #12,136, tagged as anoun, pronounced [naːt].

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 13200, this pair ranks #1,959,475 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nahe vs Naht

Shared letters: ahn. Private to "nahe": e. Private to "Naht": t.

"nahe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Naht" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • naheanhe · naeh · nahhe · nhae · nnahe
  • Nahtanht · nahht · nahtt · nath · nhat · nnaht

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nahe" for "Naht" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nahe" is an adjective and "Naht" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "nahe" vs "Naht" - which ranks higher?
"nahe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,064 in our German list, against #12,136 for "Naht". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nahe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Naht" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,959,475 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nahe" and "Naht" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nagy vs Naht". 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 #1,959,475 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