nähenvsnaschenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,452
“nähen” frequency rank
#36,516
“naschen” frequency rank
49968
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nähen naschen
Definition Textilteile mit einem Faden verbinden essen oder kosten (besonders Süßigkeiten)

Where the eye mixes nähen and naschen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. nähen runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against naschen's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
nähen
7 ch
naschen

Why the eye confuses nähen with naschen

A purely visual mix-up. nähen ([ˈnɛːən]) and naschen ([ˈnaʃn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49968, 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]. naschen is at rank #36,516, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnaʃn̩].

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 49968, this pair ranks #1,191,604 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nähen vs naschen

Shared letters: ehn. Private to "nähen": ä. Private to "naschen": acs.

"nähen" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "naschen" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • naschen ← anschen · nacshen · nascchen · nascehn · naschenn · naschhen · naschne · nashcen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nähen" and "naschen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnɛːən] versus [ˈnaʃn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "nähen" vs "naschen" - which ranks higher?
"nähen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,452 in our German list, against #36,516 for "naschen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "nähen" and "naschen" 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 "naschen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,191,604 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nähen" and "naschen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nagen vs nähen". 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 #1,191,604 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