näherevsnährenWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#7,970
“nähere” frequency rank
#35,361
“nähren” frequency rank
43331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nähere nähren
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Flexion des Komparativs des Adjektivs nah etwas wachsen und mehr oder bedeutender werden lassen

Where the eye mixes nähere and nähren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. nähere (CVCVCV) and nähren (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
nähere
6 ch
nähren

Why the eye confuses nähere with nähren

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nähere is [ˈnɛːəʁə] while nähren is [ˈnɛːʁən]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nähere is recorded at frequency rank #7,970, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɛːəʁə]. nähren is at rank #35,361, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnɛːʁən].

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 43331, this pair ranks #1,421,428 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nähere vs nähren

Shared letters: ehnrä. Private to "nähere": -. Private to "nähren": -.

"nähere" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "nähren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nähere" for "nähren" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nähere" is an adjective and "nähren" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nähere" or "nähren"?
"nähere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,970 in our German list, against #35,361 for "nähren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nähere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nähren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,421,428 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nähere" and "nähren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nagen vs nähren". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,421,428 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