neuevsniceWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#156
“neue” frequency rank
#5,988
“nice” frequency rank
6144
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neue nice
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum des Adjektivs neu von guter Qualität

Where the eye mixes neue and nice

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
neue
4 ch
nice

Look-alike desk: neue vs nice

A purely visual mix-up. neue ([ˈnɔɪ̯ə]) and nice ([naɪ̯s]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neue is recorded at frequency rank #156, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯ə]. nice is at rank #5,988, tagged as anadj, pronounced [naɪ̯s].

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 6144, this pair ranks #1,992,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neue vs nice

Shared letters: en. Private to "neue": u. Private to "nice": ci.

"neue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "nice" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neueenue · neeu · nneue · nuee
  • niceince · ncie · nicce · niec · nnice

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "neue" and "nice" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈnɔɪ̯ə] versus [naɪ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "neue" or "nice"?
"neue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #156 in our German list, against #5,988 for "nice". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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 "nice" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,992,568 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neue" and "nice" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nice vs node". 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 #1,992,568 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