neuevsneuemWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“neue” and “neuem” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#156
“neue” frequency rank
#4,143
“neuem” frequency rank
4299
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neue neuem
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum des Adjektivs neu Dativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs neu

Where the eye mixes neue and neuem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
neue
5 ch
neuem

Visual trap between neue and neuem

A purely visual mix-up. neue ([ˈnɔɪ̯ə]) and neuem ([ˈnɔɪ̯əm]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “neue” sits inside “neuem”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neue is recorded at frequency rank #156, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯ə]. neuem is at rank #4,143, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯əm].

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 4299, this pair ranks #1,998,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neue vs neuem

Shared letters: enu. Private to "neue": -. Private to "neuem": m.

"neue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "neuem" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neueenue · neeu · nneue · nuee
  • neuemenuem · neeum · neuemm · neume · nneuem · nueem

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "neue" and "neuem" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnɔɪ̯ə] versus [ˈnɔɪ̯əm]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "neue" or "neuem" show up more?
"neue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #156 in our German list, against #4,143 for "neuem". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "neue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "neuem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,998,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neue" and "neuem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "neuem vs Neuner". 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 #1,998,073 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