nassvsnousConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#5,515
“nass” frequency rank
#37,704
“nous” frequency rank
43219
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nass nous
Definition mit anhaftender Flüssigkeit, mit Flüssigkeit durchsetzt, von Flüssigkeit bedeckt wir

Where the eye mixes nass and nous

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

4 ch
nass
4 ch
nous

Visual trap between nass and nous

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nass is [nas] while nous is [nu]. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43219, 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]. nous is at rank #37,704, tagged as apron, pronounced [nu].

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 43219, this pair ranks #1,424,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nass vs nous

Shared letters: ns. Private to "nass": a. Private to "nous": ou.

"nass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "nous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nassanss · naß · nnass · nsas
  • nousnnous · nosu · nouss · nuos · onus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nass" and "nous" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nass" is an adjective and "nous" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "nass" or "nous" show up more?
"nass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,515 in our German list, against #37,704 for "nous". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "nous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,424,997 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nass" and "nous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nous 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 #1,424,997 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