near vs nel, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“near” is an adjective and “nel” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,730
“near” frequency rank: #32,183
“nel” frequency rank: 65913
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	near	nel
Definition	nahe	Verschmelzung der Präposition in mit dem bestimmten Artikel il

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set near and nel apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

near

3 ch

nel

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: near is anadjective and nelapreposition. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

near is recorded at frequency rank #33,730, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. nel is at rank #32,183, tagged as aprep, pronounced [nel].

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 65913, this pair ranks #590,762 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of near vs nel

Shared letters: en. Private to "near": ar. Private to "nel": l.

"near" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "nel" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

near ← enar · naer · nearr · nera · nnear

Frequency comparison

near#33,730

nel#32,183

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "near" and "nel" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "near" is an adjective and "nel" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "near" or "nel"?

"nel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,183 in our German list, against #33,730 for "near". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering near vs nel

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “near”; for a preposition, it's “nel”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “near” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable