neuntevsneusteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: neunte is a num, neuste is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“neunte” is a num and “neuste” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,641
“neunte” frequency rank
#20,684
“neuste” frequency rank
39325
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neunte neuste
Definition nach dem beziehungsweise der achten kommend; dem zehnten vorausgehend Nominativ Singular Femininum Superlativ der starken Flexion des Adjektivs neu

Where the eye mixes neunte and neuste

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. neunte and neuste follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
neunte
6 ch
neuste

Visual trap between neunte and neuste

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: neunte is [ˈnɔɪ̯ntə] while neuste is [ˈnɔɪ̯stə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - n in “neunte” becomes s in “neuste”, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neunte is recorded at frequency rank #18,641, classified as anum, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯ntə]. neuste is at rank #20,684, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈnɔɪ̯stə].

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 39325, this pair ranks #1,539,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neunte vs neuste

Shared letters: entu. Private to "neunte": -. Private to "neuste": s.

"neunte" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "neuste" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neunte ← enunte · nenute · neunet · neunnte · neuntte · neutne · nneunte · nuente
  • neuste ← enuste · nesute · neuset · neusste · neustte · neutse · nneuste · nueste

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "neunte" and "neuste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "neunte" is a num and "neuste" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "neunte" or "neuste"?
"neunte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,641 in our German list, against #20,684 for "neuste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "neunte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "neuste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,539,905 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neunte" and "neuste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Neuner vs neunte". 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 #1,539,905 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