nähenvsnakedConfusable pair

Quick tell: nähen is a verb, naked is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#13,452
“nähen” frequency rank
#31,190
“naked” frequency rank
44642
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nähen naked
Definition Textilteile mit einem Faden verbinden nackt, unbekleidet, bloß

Where the eye mixes nähen and naked

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

5 ch
nähen
5 ch
naked

Look-alike desk: nähen vs naked

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nähen is [ˈnɛːən] while naked is [ˈneɪkɪd]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nähen is recorded at frequency rank #13,452, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈnɛːən]. naked is at rank #31,190, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈneɪkɪd].

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 44642, this pair ranks #1,379,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nähen vs naked

Shared letters: en. Private to "nähen": hä. Private to "naked": adk.

"nähen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "naked" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • naked ← anked · naekd · nakde · nakedd · nakked · nkaed · nnaked

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nähen" and "naked" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nähen" is a verb and "naked" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nähen" or "naked"?
"nähen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,452 in our German list, against #31,190 for "naked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nähen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "naked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,379,544 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nähen" and "naked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nagen vs naked". 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 #1,379,544 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