newvsNSUTell them apart

Quick tell: new is a adjective, NSU is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“new” is an adjective and “NSU” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#688
“new” frequency rank
#6,456
“NSU” frequency rank
7144
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature new NSU
Definition neu Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund: rechtsextreme terroristische Vereinigung

Letter map: new vs NSU

Shared letters muted; letters that set new and NSU apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
new
3 ch
NSU

Role in the sentence - new and NSU

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: new is anadjective and NSUanabbrev. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

new is recorded at frequency rank #688, classified as anadj, pronounced [njuː]. NSU is at rank #6,456, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced […].

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 7144, this pair ranks #1,989,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of new vs NSU

Shared letters: n. Private to "new": ew. Private to "NSU": su.

"new" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "NSU" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "new" for "NSU" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "new" is an adjective and "NSU" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "new" or "NSU"?
"new" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #688 in our German list, against #6,456 for "NSU". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "new" and "NSU". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "new" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "NSU" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,989,231 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "new" and "NSU" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "NSU vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,989,231 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