Which to use
“neck” is a verb and “neu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,472
- “neck” frequency rank
- #385
- “neu” frequency rank
- 45857
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | neck | neu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs necken | vor kurzer Zeit gemacht oder geschehen |
Where the eye mixes neck and neu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between neck and neu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neck is [nɛk] while neu is [nɔɪ̯]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
neck is recorded at frequency rank #45,472, classified as averb, pronounced [nɛk]. neu is at rank #385, tagged as anadj, pronounced [nɔɪ̯].
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 45857, this pair ranks #1,338,851 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of neck vs neu
Shared letters: en. Private to "neck": ck. Private to "neu": u.
"neck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "neu" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- neck ← enck · ncek · necck · neckk · nekc · nneck
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "neck" and "neu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "neck" or "neu" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "neck" and "neu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "neck" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "neu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,338,851 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "neck" and "neu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "neck vs nei". 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 #1,338,851 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.