neuevsNikeTell them apart

Quick tell: neue is a adjective, Nike is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“neue” is an adjective and “Nike” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#156
“neue” frequency rank
#11,489
“Nike” frequency rank
11645
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neue Nike
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum des Adjektivs neu Siegesgöttin, in Athen auch Beiname der Göttin Athene

Where the eye mixes neue and Nike

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. neue (CVVV) and Nike (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
neue
4 ch
Nike

Why the eye confuses neue with Nike

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neue is [ˈnɔɪ̯ə] while Nike is [ˈniːkə]. 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 11645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neue is recorded at frequency rank #156, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯ə]. Nike is at rank #11,489, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈniːkə].

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 11645, this pair ranks #1,968,713 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neue vs Nike

Shared letters: en. Private to "neue": u. Private to "Nike": ik.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neueenue · neeu · nneue · nuee
  • Nikeinke · niek · nikke · nnike

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "neue" and "Nike" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "neue" is an adjective and "Nike" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "neue" or "Nike"?
"neue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #156 in our German list, against #11,489 for "Nike". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "neue" and "Nike" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "neue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Nike" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,968,713 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neue" and "Nike" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Nike 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 #1,968,713 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