nassenvsnassesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“nassen” and “nasses” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,546
“nassen” frequency rank
#49,113
“nasses” frequency rank
61659
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nassen nasses
Definition Genitiv Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs nass Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs nass

Where the eye mixes nassen and nasses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. nassen and nasses follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
nassen
6 ch
nasses

Visual trap between nassen and nasses

A purely visual mix-up. nassen ([ˈnasn̩]) and nasses ([ˈnasəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “nassen” becomes s in “nasses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nassen is recorded at frequency rank #12,546, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈnasn̩]. nasses is at rank #49,113, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnasəs].

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 61659, this pair ranks #741,420 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nassen vs nasses

Shared letters: aens. Private to "nassen": -. Private to "nasses": -.

"nassen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "nasses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nassen ← anssen · nasesn · nassenn · nassne · naßen · nnassen · nsasen
  • nasses ← ansses · nases · nasess · nassess · nassse · naßes · nnasses · nsases

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nassen" for "nasses" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnasn̩] versus [ˈnasəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "nassen" vs "nasses" - which ranks higher?
"nassen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,546 in our German list, against #49,113 for "nasses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nassen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nasses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #741,420 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nassen" and "nasses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nasses vs Nissen". 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 #741,420 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