neuesvsnotesTell them apart

Quick tell: neues is a adjective, notes is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“neues” is an adjective and “notes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#549
“neues” frequency rank
#21,718
“notes” frequency rank
22267
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neues notes
Definition Nominativ Neutrum der starken Flexion des Adjektivs neu 2. Person Singular Präsens Konjunktiv des Verbs notar

Where the eye mixes neues and notes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
neues
5 ch
notes

Visual trap between neues and notes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neues is [ˈnɔɪ̯əs] while notes is [ˈnɔ.tɪs]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neues is recorded at frequency rank #549, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯əs]. notes is at rank #21,718, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈnɔ.tɪs].

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 22267, this pair ranks #1,876,272 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neues vs notes

Shared letters: ens. Private to "neues": u. Private to "notes": ot.

"neues" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "notes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neuesenues · neeus · neuess · neuse · nneues · nuees
  • notesnnotes · noets · notess · notse · nottes · ntoes · ontes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "neues" and "notes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "neues" is an adjective and "notes" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "neues" or "notes"?
"neues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #549 in our German list, against #21,718 for "notes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "neues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "notes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,876,272 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neues" and "notes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "node vs notes". 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 #1,876,272 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