neunvsnutWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: neun is a num, nut is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“neun” is a num and “nut” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,639
“neun” frequency rank
#36,531
“nut” frequency rank
38170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neun nut
Definition die Kardinalzahl zwischen acht und zehn 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs nuten

Where the eye mixes neun and nut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. neun runs 4 letters (CVVC) against nut's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
neun
3 ch
nut

Visual trap between neun and nut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neun is [nɔɪ̯n] while nut is [nuːt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38170, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neun is recorded at frequency rank #1,639, classified as anum, pronounced [nɔɪ̯n]. nut is at rank #36,531, tagged as averb, pronounced [nuːt].

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 38170, this pair ranks #1,571,032 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neun vs nut

Shared letters: nu. Private to "neun": e. Private to "nut": t.

"neun" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "nut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neunenun · nenu · neunn · nneun · nuen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "neun" and "nut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "neun" is a num and "nut" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "neun" or "nut" show up more?
"neun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,639 in our German list, against #36,531 for "nut". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "neun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,571,032 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neun" and "nut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nox vs nut". 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 #1,571,032 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