neinvsnesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: nein is a particle, nes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“nein” is a particle and “nes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#281
“nein” frequency rank
#28,778
“nes” frequency rank
29059
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nein nes
Definition Partikel, die Ablehnung, Verneinung, Negation, Widerspruch bekundet, gewöhnlich auf eine Frage Landspitze

Letter map: nein vs nes

Shared letters muted; letters that set nein and nes apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
nein
3 ch
nes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: nein is aparticle and nesanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nein is recorded at frequency rank #281, classified as aparticle, pronounced [naɪ̯n]. nes is at rank #28,778, tagged as anoun, 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 29059, this pair ranks #1,773,810 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nein vs nes

Shared letters: en. Private to "nein": i. Private to "nes": s.

"nein" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "nes" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neinenin · neinn · neni · nien · nnein

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nein" and "nes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "nein" is a particle and "nes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "nein" or "nes"?
"nein" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #281 in our German list, against #28,778 for "nes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list