ng vs nur, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ng” is a character and “nur” is a particle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,663
“ng” frequency rank: #40
“nur” frequency rank: 17703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ng	nur
Definition	zwanzigster Buchstabe des Shona-Alphabets (Minuskel)	generell: unterstreicht die Betonung oder Einschränkung der Satzteilaussage

Where the eye mixes ng and nur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

3 ch

nur

Visual trap between ng and nur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ng is [ŋ] while nur is [nuːɐ̯]. 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 (character vs particle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ng is recorded at frequency rank #17,663, classified as acharacter, pronounced [ŋ]. nur is at rank #40, tagged as aparticle, pronounced [nuːɐ̯].

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 17703, this pair ranks #1,925,033 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ng vs nur

Shared letters: n. Private to "ng": g. Private to "nur": ru.

"ng" · 2 letters · shape CC · "nur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ng" and "nur" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ng" is a character and "nur" a particle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary German text, does "ng" or "nur" show up more?

"nur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40 in our German list, against #17,663 for "ng". 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 "ng" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "nur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,925,033 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ng" and "nur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nagy vs ng". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,925,033 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.