NegervsneigeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Neger is a noun, neige is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Neger” is a noun and “neige” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,351
“Neger” frequency rank
#23,249
“neige” frequency rank
35600
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Neger neige
Definition ein dunkelhäutiger Mensch subsaharischer Abstammung 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs neigen

Where the eye mixes Neger and neige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Neger (CVCVC) and neige (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Neger
5 ch
neige

Look-alike desk: Neger vs neige

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Neger is [ˈneːɡɐ] while neige is [ˈnaɪ̯ɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35600, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Neger is recorded at frequency rank #12,351, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈneːɡɐ]. neige is at rank #23,249, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnaɪ̯ɡə].

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 35600, this pair ranks #1,636,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Neger vs neige

Shared letters: egn. Private to "Neger": r. Private to "neige": i.

"Neger" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "neige" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Neger ← neegr · negerr · negger · negre · ngeer · nneger
  • neige ← enige · negie · neieg · neigge · niege · nneige

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Neger" and "neige" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Neger" is a noun and "neige" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Neger" vs "neige" - which ranks higher?
"Neger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,351 in our German list, against #23,249 for "neige". 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 "Neger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "neige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,636,088 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Neger" and "neige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "neige vs nerve". 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 #1,636,088 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