neivsneigtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,309
“nei” frequency rank
#12,548
“neigt” frequency rank
50857
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nei neigt
Definition verneinen, negieren, abstreiten 2. Person Plural Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs neigen

Letter map: nei vs neigt

Shared letters muted; letters that set nei and neigt apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. nei runs 3 letters (CVV) against neigt's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
nei
5 ch
neigt

Spelling & dictionary notes on nei vs neigt

nei and neigt are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “nei” sits inside “neigt”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nei is recorded at frequency rank #38,309, classified as averb, pronounced […]. neigt is at rank #12,548, tagged as averb, pronounced [naɪ̯kt].

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 50857, this pair ranks #1,157,699 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nei vs neigt

Shared letters: ein. Private to "nei": -. Private to "neigt": gt.

"nei" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "neigt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neigtenigt · negit · neiggt · neigtt · neitg · niegt · nneigt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nei" and "neigt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “nei” sits inside “neigt”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "nei" vs "neigt" - which ranks higher?
"neigt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,548 in our German list, against #38,309 for "nei". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "nei" vs "neigt" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "neigt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,157,699 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nei" and "neigt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nei vs puzzles". 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 #1,157,699 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