Which to use
“nähren” is a verb and “nassen” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,361
- “nähren” frequency rank
- #12,546
- “nassen” frequency rank
- 47907
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nähren | nassen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | etwas wachsen und mehr oder bedeutender werden lassen | Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs nass |
Where the eye mixes nähren and nassen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. nähren and nassen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between nähren and nassen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nähren is [ˈnɛːʁən] while nassen is [ˈnasn̩]. 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 47907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nähren is recorded at frequency rank #35,361, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈnɛːʁən]. nassen is at rank #12,546, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnasn̩].
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 47907, this pair ranks #1,267,708 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of nähren vs nassen
Shared letters: en. Private to "nähren": hrä. Private to "nassen": as.
"nähren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "nassen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nassen ← anssen · nasesn · nassenn · nassne · naßen · nnassen · nsasen
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nähren" for "nassen" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "nähren" or "nassen" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "nähren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nassen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,267,708 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nähren" and "nassen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nagen vs nähren". 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 #1,267,708 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.