NasevsnineTell them apart

Quick tell: Nase is a noun, nine is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Nase” is a noun and “nine” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,981
“Nase” frequency rank
#28,781
“nine” frequency rank
30762
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Nase nine
Definition ein Geruchs- und Atmungsorgan in der Mitte des Gesichts neun

Where the eye mixes Nase and nine

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Nase
4 ch
nine

Look-alike desk: Nase vs nine

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Nase is [ˈnaːzə] while nine is [naɪn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Nase is recorded at frequency rank #1,981, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈnaːzə]. nine is at rank #28,781, tagged as anum, pronounced [naɪn].

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 30762, this pair ranks #1,741,577 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Nase vs nine

Shared letters: en. Private to "Nase": as. Private to "nine": i.

"Nase" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "nine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Naseanse · naes · nasse · nnase · nsae
  • nineinne · ninne · nnie · nnine

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Nase" for "nine" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Nase" is a noun and "nine" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Nase" or "nine"?
"Nase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,981 in our German list, against #28,781 for "nine". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Nase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,741,577 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Nase" and "nine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nine vs node". 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 #1,741,577 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