Which to use
“nei” is a verb and “new” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,309
- “nei” frequency rank
- #688
- “new” frequency rank
- 38997
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nei | new |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | verneinen, negieren, abstreiten | neu |
Letter map: nei vs new
Shared letters muted; letters that set nei and new apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for nei / new
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nei is averb and newanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - i in “nei” becomes w in “new”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nei is recorded at frequency rank #38,309, classified as averb, pronounced […]. new is at rank #688, tagged as anadj, pronounced [njuː].
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 38997, this pair ranks #1,548,984 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of nei vs new
Shared letters: en. Private to "nei": i. Private to "new": w.
"nei" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "new" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "nei" and "new" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "nei" or "new"?
Useful next steps
Pair "nei" vs "new" 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 "new" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,548,984 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nei" and "new" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nei vs puzzles". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #1,548,984 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.