Which to use
“nervig” is an adjective and “Nervus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,244
- “nervig” frequency rank
- #49,117
- “Nervus” frequency rank
- 58361
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nervig | Nervus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sehnig, kräftig, kraftvoll, stark, zäh; „den Eindruck angespannter Kraft vermittelnd“ | ein Strang aus Nervenzellen, der der Erregungsleitung im tierischen oder menschlichen Körper dient |
Where the eye mixes nervig and Nervus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. nervig and Nervus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between nervig and Nervus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: nervig is [ˈnɛʁfɪç] while Nervus is [ˈnɛʁvʊs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58361, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nervig is recorded at frequency rank #9,244, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɛʁfɪç]. Nervus is at rank #49,117, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈnɛʁvʊs].
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 58361, this pair ranks #865,766 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of nervig vs Nervus
Shared letters: enrv. Private to "nervig": gi. Private to "Nervus": su.
"nervig" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Nervus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nervig" for "Nervus" ever safe?
Which is more common, "nervig" or "Nervus"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "nervig" and "Nervus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "nervig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Nervus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #865,766 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nervig" and "Nervus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nerve vs Nervus". 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 #865,766 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.