neigevsnervigeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: neige is a verb, nervige is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#23,249
“neige” frequency rank
#24,053
“nervige” frequency rank
47302
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neige nervige
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs neigen Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs nervig

Where the eye mixes neige and nervige

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. neige runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against nervige's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
neige
7 ch
nervige

Visual trap between neige and nervige

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neige is [ˈnaɪ̯ɡə] while nervige is [ˈnɛʁfɪɡə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 47302, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neige is recorded at frequency rank #23,249, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈnaɪ̯ɡə]. nervige is at rank #24,053, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɛʁfɪɡə].

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 47302, this pair ranks #1,289,131 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of neige vs nervige

Shared letters: egin. Private to "neige": -. Private to "nervige": rv.

"neige" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "nervige" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neige ← enige · negie · neieg · neigge · niege · nneige
  • nervige ← enrvige · nerivge · nerrvige · nervgie · nervieg · nervigge · nervvige · nevrige

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "neige" and "nervige" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "neige" is a verb and "nervige" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "neige" vs "nervige" - which ranks higher?
"neige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,249 in our German list, against #24,053 for "nervige". 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 "neige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nervige" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,289,131 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neige" and "nervige" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nerve vs nervige". 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 #1,289,131 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