Which to use
“neben” is a preposition and “never” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #314
- “neben” frequency rank
- #9,425
- “never” frequency rank
- 9739
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | neben | never |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | räumlich angrenzend, in unmittelbarer Nähe | nie, niemals |
Where the eye mixes neben and never
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: neben vs never
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neben is [ˈneːbn̩] while never is [ˈnɛv.ə(ɹ)]. 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 (preposition vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
neben is recorded at frequency rank #314, classified as aprep, pronounced [ˈneːbn̩]. never is at rank #9,425, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈnɛv.ə(ɹ)].
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 9739, this pair ranks #1,978,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of neben vs never
Shared letters: en. Private to "neben": b. Private to "never": rv.
"neben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "never" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "neben" and "never" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "neben" or "never" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "neben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "never" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,978,518 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "neben" and "never" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Neuner vs never". 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 #1,978,518 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.