neigenvsNigelTell them apart

Quick tell: neigen is a verb, Nigel is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“neigen” is a verb and “Nigel” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,766
“neigen” frequency rank
#25,249
“Nigel” frequency rank
38015
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neigen Nigel
Definition in Schräglage geraten; schräg werden englischer männlicher Vorname

Letter map: neigen vs Nigel

Shared letters muted; letters that set neigen and Nigel apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
neigen
5 ch
Nigel

Grammar separator: neigen vs Nigel

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: neigen is averb and Nigelaname. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38015, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neigen is recorded at frequency rank #12,766, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈnaɪ̯ɡn̩]. Nigel is at rank #25,249, tagged as aname, pronounced […].

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 38015, this pair ranks #1,575,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neigen vs Nigel

Shared letters: egin. Private to "neigen": -. Private to "Nigel": l.

"neigen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "Nigel" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neigenenigen · negien · neiegn · neigenn · neiggen · neigne · niegen · nneigen
  • Nigelingel · ngiel · niegl · nigell · niggel · nigle · nnigel

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "neigen" for "Nigel" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "neigen" is a verb and "Nigel" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "neigen" or "Nigel" show up more?
"neigen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,766 in our German list, against #25,249 for "Nigel". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "neigen" and "Nigel". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "neigen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Nigel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,575,106 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neigen" and "Nigel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Nigel 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 #1,575,106 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