nassvsNGOsTell them apart

Quick tell: nass is a adjective, NGOs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nass” is an adjective and “NGOs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,515
“nass” frequency rank
#23,250
“NGOs” frequency rank
28765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nass NGOs
Definition mit anhaftender Flüssigkeit, mit Flüssigkeit durchsetzt, von Flüssigkeit bedeckt Nominativ Plural des Substantivs NGO

Where the eye mixes nass and NGOs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. nass (CVCC) and NGOs (CCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
nass
4 ch
NGOs

Visual trap between nass and NGOs

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nass is [nas] while NGOs is [ˌɛnd͡ʒiˈʔoʊs]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nass is recorded at frequency rank #5,515, classified as anadj, pronounced [nas]. NGOs is at rank #23,250, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˌɛnd͡ʒiˈʔoʊs].

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 28765, this pair ranks #1,779,046 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nass vs NGOs

Shared letters: ns. Private to "nass": a. Private to "NGOs": go.

"nass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "NGOs" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nass ← anss · naß · nnass · nsas
  • NGOs ← gnos · nggos · ngoss · ngso · nngos · nogs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nass" for "NGOs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nass" is an adjective and "NGOs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "nass" or "NGOs" show up more?
"nass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,515 in our German list, against #23,250 for "NGOs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "nass" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "NGOs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,779,046 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nass" and "NGOs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "NGOs vs nox". 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 #1,779,046 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